A mother's plea: Find my daughter's killer

Source: The Philadelphia InquirerOct.儲存倉 08--CAMDEN Last summer, Dyamond Manire helped write the obituary for a cousin's daughter who was killed in a fire that the family suspects was arson."You're so strong. I could never imagine if I lost my Jewel," she told Montika Lowe, whose daughter Qua'Nyrah Houston, 15, was one of two teenagers who died in the fire in Camden's Liberty Park section.About three months later, Manire was writing another obituary: her daughter Jewel's.On Oct. 6, 2012, a masked gunman opened fire on teenagers and young adults in a car parked in Camden's Fairview section, mortally wounding Jewel Manire, a young mother. A passenger, Khalil Gibson, a Camden County College student, also was killed. A 20-year-old college student and two 16-year-old girls were wounded.The shooting was brazen even for this violent city. It remains unsolved.Manire's daughter was pronounced dead Oct. 7, the day the 19-year-old's son turned 4.On Monday, a birthday and a dreadful anniversary, Manire held up a large photo of her daughter's casket and pleaded for justice at an antiviolence rally at City Hall in Camden."Sixty-seven murders," she said, referring to the record number of homicides in Camden in 2012. "How many are solved? Can I ask for my daughter's to be solved? Can I ask for all of your family members' to be solved?"A spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said investigators were following leads and encouraging people to come forward. But Jason Laughlin would not say if there were any suspects. He said the office was just as frustrated with unsolved cases."What a parent has to go through, the questions, the uncertainty, the frustration, I can't imagine the pain," Laughlin said. "Our office wants to bring this to a close, too."Over the past year, Manire and Jewel's father, Demetrius Divine, 39, have posted fliers around the seventh of each month at a variety of locations, including Fairview, and as far north as the PATH train station in Jersey City and as far south as a Greyhound bus terminal in Richmond, Va., where they say people with Camden ties may pass through.They have written letters and sent fliers to New Jersey lawmakers and President Obama.The family has contributed $10,000 from its savings to bolster a $15,000 reward from the Citizens' Crime Commission for the arrest and conviction of the killer.Divine, a sports manager in mixed martial ar迷你倉最平s, said he had hired a plane to fly above Monday's rally to unfurl a banner advertising the reward, but poor weather prevented the flight.The midday rally, organized with the help of Camden Churches Organized for People and other groups, drew about 70 people.As Manire, a case manager for a social services agency, began speaking, she took a deep breath and held off tears. "Bear with me," she said."I feel like my soul is gone without her, but I still have a piece of her in my soul because I have her son," she said in an interview later.Manire said her daughter and grandson had celebrated the toddler's birthday on the day of the shooting.Jewel Manire was behind the wheel when she and the others were shot in the parking lot of Gramercy Park Garden Apartments on Hull Road, where she had lived for almost a year.According to authorities, the assailant then got into a Chevrolet Lumina and drove it from Hull Road in the Fairview section to nearby Morgan Boulevard."As long as that monster that murdered our daughter and all the monsters that murdered your family members and your loved ones . . . are on the street, all of us are in danger," Manire said.She urged people with knowledge of crimes to not hesitate to come forward, asking them to "R.A.T." -- "rise against tragedy."The lack of an arrest after so long "puts a strain on your heart," she said in the interview. But she said authorities were likely doing their best.Manire said her daughter, as a grocery store cashier, was going to school to become a licensed practical nurse. The family will celebrate what would have been Jewel Manire's 21st birthday this month with a fund-raiser at Philadelphia's Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts on Oct. 20 to benefit her son.Manire said that three days after her daughter's death, after her grandson kept asking for his mother, she finally told him: "Mommy's an angel, and she's going to look over both of us."Then the two of them lay in bed together and cried.Authorities ask anyone with information to contact John Hunsinger, an investigator with the Prosecutor's Officem at 856-365-3239 or Camden County Police at 856-757-7420. The Citizens' Crime Commission's Tipline can be reached at 215-546-8477.dsimon@phillynews.com856-779-3829@darransimonCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Philadelphia Inquirer Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at .philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉