REMEMBERING NEVAEH

Nevaeh Jones was only one year old when her life ended in May 2007. Her obituary remembers her as Nevaeh Rae Jones, a little girl from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. She was surrounded by family that included her mother, Sonja Navarro, her stepfather Gerald Jones, her siblings Aiyanna and Jayson, and extended family. At thirteen months old, Nevaeh was still a baby. She should have been learning new words, becoming steadier on her feet and developing the little habits and preferences that would eventually become part of her personality. Instead, the surviving public record overwhelmingly remembers Nevaeh for the violence that ended her life. That is not enough. Nevaeh was someone's daughter. She was a little sister and a big sister. She had a family who expected to watch her grow. She deserved much more than thirteen months.

NEVAEH’S STORY

In May 2007, Nevaeh was living in the Brooklyn Park area of Minnesota. She was only thirteen months old. On May 16, Nevaeh suffered fatal injuries while in the care of her biological father. The Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women's statewide review of domestic violence related deaths subsequently included Nevaeh among the children murdered in Minnesota during 2007. The report classified her death as a beating and identified her father as the alleged perpetrator. Nevaeh did not survive. She died on May 16, 2007. She was one year old. Her family held services for her several days later. Instead of preparing for the milestones that should have filled Nevaeh's second year of life, the people who loved her were preparing to bury her.

JUSTICE FOR NEVAEH

Nevaeh's death was identified in Minnesota's statewide domestic violence fatality review as a child homicide resulting from a beating, with her biological father identified as the alleged perpetrator.  However, the surviving publicly accessible records I was able to verify do not provide a sufficiently reliable final criminal disposition for the person responsible for Nevaeh's death. Because Abuse Angels does not turn allegations into convictions, no defendant conviction block is included here.

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Nevaeh lived for barely more than a year. That is such a small amount of time. At thirteen months old, there was still almost everything left to discover about her. Her family should have learned what foods she hated and which ones she demanded over and over. They should have discovered what made her laugh until she couldn't catch her breath. There should have been first sentences, favorite toys, preschool and kindergarten. There should have been birthdays that eventually made her first birthday seem impossibly long ago. Instead, May 16, 2007 became the final date attached to Nevaeh's life. The official records can classify her death. They can identify the relationship of the person accused of killing her. They can place her name among Minnesota's child homicide victims. But those records cannot contain the life Nevaeh should have had. Her obituary gives us something the statistics cannot. It gives us a family. A mother. A stepfather. A sister. A brother. Grandparents, uncles and other people who belonged to Nevaeh's world and who were left behind when she died.  Nevaeh should have grown up alongside them. She should have had decades to become whoever she was going to be. Instead, she had thirteen months. Those thirteen months still mattered. Nevaeh Jones mattered. Abuse Angels remembers Nevaeh Jones. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.