Family, friends remember slain RI woman at vigil

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By Mary Louise Speer | Saturday, January 6, 2007 1:19 AM CST | () comments

John Schultz/QUAD-CITY TIMES Ernest Collier, the father of LaShaune Wright, who was stabbed to death early Monday, sits with his head lowered, smoking a cigar on the door steps of his daughter’s house in Rock Island during a candlelight vigil Friday night.

Lauren Anderson/QUAD-CITY TIMES Joy Johnson of Rock Island was one of many who gathered Friday night for a candlelight vigil at the home of LaShaune Wright, who was stabbed to death Monday.

If LaShaune Wright had been present during a candlelight prayer vigil in her honor Friday night, friends say she would have told those gathered to take care of her babies and that she loves them all.

Wright, 28, the mother of two children, was stabbed to death early Monday in front of her former home in Rock Island. Her former boyfriend, Steven Douglas Hill, 42, is charged with her murder.

Friday night, family and friends remembered her with song, keening sorrow, and candles carried by walkers from the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Rock Island to the house where she died at 714 5th St.

“If I had known about it, I would have stopped it,” Wright’s father, Ernest Collier, said as he sat on the front step.

He looked out into the crowd of about 200 people, who used their hands to shield the flickering lights against the night wind. “Better watch over your sons and daughters because it can happen to you,” he warned them. “This is not a joke. It could happen to any of you in the blink of an eye.”

Wright shared her love for music through rapping with her group, the Hood Figgas and she worked as a certified nursing assistant at the Kahl Home for the Aged and Infirmed in Davenport.

She had moved out of the house she shared with Hill on Christmas Eve. An autopsy showed she died of multiple stab wounds, according to the Rock Island County Coroner’s office.

The vigil included prayers for Hill’s parents, Mamon and Bernice Hill of Rock Island.

Mike Collier hugged Ernest Collier before sharing his own recollections of Wright. “That was my cousin, and I loved her. It’s unbelievable what happened,” Mike Collier said

Wright was “one of us and she was always a rose. LaShaune was always on the go. When I hit a wall, LaShaune told me ‘get up. You’ve got to keep on,’ ” said Donalda McDuffy, a friend. The two women shared secrets and confidences, and Wright never judged anyone, McDuffy said.

She learned about Wright‘s death on New Year’s morning, in a phone call. “I sat on my floor and cried until I couldn’t cry any more,” she said.

Mike Collier and McDuffy aired their frustrations over the violent way Wright died. Men, when they get angry, need to keep their hands off the women, he said, and conversely, women also need to keep their hands off men. Walking away is the better option, he said.

Extended family members talked about their grief for Wright’s son, CorShaune McDuffy, 10, and daughter, LaShae McDuffy, 5, who are motherless now.

“It’s hard for me to swallow what happened,” said longtime friend Lachelle Guy, a 1993 graduate of Rock Island High School. “It’s hard to lay down at night and think that she had to go through this.”

The two girls played on the basketball team and participated in track together during high school, she said.

Domestic violence happens far too often, Guy said. If people know someone who is involved in a domestic violence relationship, call the police, she said.

At the end of the vigil, Mike Collier asked everyone to repeat after him.

“We love you, LaShaune. We miss you, LaShaune. Rest in peace, LaShaune. Stop the violence.”

No one knows for certain why LaShaune Wright of Rock Island chose to return to her former home at 714 5th St., Rock Island on New Year’s Day. But police on both sides of the river say they will provide a watchful presence while a person in a domestic violent situation retrieves belongings.

People can call the Rock Island police to stand by, said police officer Michael Ramirez.

“Yes, we do provide that service if she is separated from her boyfriend or husband,” added Davenport police Sgt. Mike Colclasure. However, the police cannot stick around for long periods, the person needs to be prepared to grab a few necessities for themselves and their children, if any, and leave, police said.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.