Pictured are 12-year-old Davia Garth and a booking photo of her stepfather, Rufus Gray, 59, who is in custody and accused of murdering the young girl at their home on Cleveland's east side during a domestic dispute with her mother.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 21-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -Hundreds turned out for the funeral of 12-year-old Davia Garth on Sat., Nov 8 at at Body of Christ Church on Miles Road on Cleveland's largely Black east side.
Garth was murdered on Oct. 30 at the family home on Cleveland's east side, allegedly at the hands of her stepfather, Rufus Gray, 59, who is currently in custody and facing aggravated murder and other charges.
At Saturday's heart wrenching funeral Davia Garth' principal, Willie Banks III, teachers and students at her middle school of Hope Academy North Coast remembered her as a happy child who got along with her teachers and peers and who always spoke while passing in the hallways .
Banks described Davia as a loving child and respectful student who was "the light at the end of the tunnel."
The Rev Terry Buckner, Davia's cousin, delivered the eulogy and other scheduled speakers include Yvonne Pointer, a community relations liaison for the city of Cleveland whose 14-year-old daughter, Gloria Pointer, was raped and murdered 30-years ago on her way home from school, also on Cleveland's east side.
Her killer, Hernadez Warren, 59, is serving a life sentence for murder and a host of other convictions relative to his guilty plea in 2013, which came just months after DNA finally linked him to the crime.
Cleveland police say Gray shot and killed Davia Garth and wounded his wife, Sonya Garth-Gray. Davia Garth's older brother wrestled the gun away from his stepfather.
Garth-Gray was treated at a local hospital and later released, some of the bullets still lodged in her arms.
Gray had been arrested for domestic violence and released from jail with no charges weeks earlier. He was released even though he was still on probation for a domestic attack against his wife, a Cleveland 19 Action News report reveals.
At the time of the murder Gray was also under a court-ordered protective order.
Greater Cleveland community activists groups, including the Imperial Women Coalition, want answers on why Gray was not charged and held in jail on the latest complaint of domestic violence against his estranged wife, Garth -Gray.
A fund has been set up in the Davia Garth's name at Fifth Third Bank
Pictured are United States President Barack Obama (in blue tie), America's first Black president, Loretta Lynch, the choice of President Obama for the next U.S. attorney general who, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, would become the first Black female U.S. attorney general, outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, America's first Black attorney general, and the Rev. Al Sharpton (in blue-green tie), one the nation's most prominent leader in the area of Civil Rights. Also the host of MSNBC's Politics nation and head of the New York-based National Action Network, Sharpton said in a news release that he applaud's the president's choice in Lynch to succeed the brilliant and qualified Holder, and that Lynch, a Harvard alumni and top Brooklyn, New York federal prosecutor, is supremely qualified for the post.
