Karen Souza, a neighbor, decorated their mailbox with a yellow ribbon and placed flags along their walkway.

SEEKONK — Like many people on Hillcrest Avenue, Karen Souza didn’t know Shane Murphy, the young mariner attacked by pirates last week.

But she recognized her neighbor’s home –– a big ranch with a white fence –– on TV.

Murphy and 19 other Americans aboard the Maersk Alabama, a merchant ship, had been captured by four Somali gunmen, the TV announcers said. Souza worried. Then the story changed: Murphy and the crew had overpowered their attackers, reporters said. Then, another twist: They had lost control and the captain, Richard Phillips, from Underhill, Vt., had agreed to leave the ship with the pirates, in exchange for the safety of the crew.

In her small gray cottage, Souza prayed. When she wasn’t cooking at Sax’s Steak & Pizza in East Providence, she followed the story.

On Easter Sunday, she learned that Navy SEALS had killed three of the pirates and rescued Phillips.

Ed Wiseman, on Westdale Avenue, heard the news, too, and rejoiced. “They should call them Easter SEALs,” quipped Wiseman. “They should turn loose the SEALs on the pirates. That’s the only way we’ll win.”

Meanwhile, Souza wanted to do something for the family that lives less than 100 yards away.

So the 46-year-old cook bought a handful of small American flags at Benny’s. At a country store, she bought yellow ribbon.

Then, on Thursday, she tied a yellow ribbon around the Murphy’s mailbox. On the walkway leading to the front door, she planted four flags.

She also decorated her own home: flags and a bow on a lamp post in the yard, a yellow ribbon around a leafless tree.

“I wanted to show my support,” said Souza from her front step Friday. “I think it’s important to show we’re thinking of them.”

Others are thinking of the Murphys, too, she said.

Her roommate, a musician in a classic rock band, wants to throw a block party for the couple and their two young boys, she said.

Ellie Wiseman, Ed’s wife, said she will ask the Attleboro Emblem Club –– an offshoot of the Elks –– to treat the family to dinner.

“Nobody deserves to have to go through this,” she said. Shane Murphy’s wife, Serena, she added, “has been so steadfast.”

It isn’t a close-knit neighborhood, although the yards are tiny. Asphalt driveways double as property markers.

“People don’t mingle,” said Ed Wiseman. But we do look out for each other, he said. The Wisemans recently drove by the Murphy home, just to make sure nothing is amiss.

Souza had hoped to meet Shane and Serena Friday, before she went to work. According to news reports, Serena had joined her husband at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland the day before.

But at 4 p.m., the house was empty.

“Maybe in a few days. I’m looking forward to meeting them,” she said. “I’ve prayed they would be OK. I could never do what they do. God bless America, and thank you, Navy. I’m proud of them all.”

pdavis@projo.com