Justice for 15-year-old Deasia Green, family says during vigil

TOLEDO, Ohio – Emotions were high Tuesday in north Toledo as nearly 100 people gathered to remember DeAsia Greenof a missing 15-year-old boy whose body was found in north Toledo on Monday.

Her parents and police found her on Monday afternoon, and they say it’s heartbreaking.

Balloons and candles, symbols of a life taken too soon, now filled the alley near 1300 Page St., where friends, family, loved ones and community members gathered to remember Green.

“The last time I saw my baby was on December 31st,” said Green’s mother Teyria Hill. “That was the last day I saw my child. Last time, last time. I will never, ever see her again.’

Speaking through her pain, Hill said the alley was not where her daughter’s final moments should have been.

“She was very sweet, smart, intelligent, outgoing, talented, beautiful. She was loved by her family,” she said.

DeAsia’s stepfather, Andre Authman, said the family is grateful to everyone who reached out. But now they just want justice.

“They always talk about the whistleblower,” Authman said. “It’s not called a whistleblower, it’s telling the truth. She didn’t deserve to be in the alley. I just want justice for her.”

Hill called on the community to fix the culture that has allowed gun violence to steal so many young lives.

On December 15, 2022, the bodies of two teenagers, confirmed a day later as 16-year-old Ke’Marion Wilder and 15-year-old Kishawn Pittman, were found amid the ashes and rubble of a burned-out, vacant house in the north of the country. Toledo.

“It’s a wake-up call, you can’t do that. These guns. You all have to put them down. It’s all senseless, senseless killing for no reason. These are our kids,” Hill said.

As the vigil continued, a loud gunshot-like noise rang out in the area, causing bystanders to run for their cars and leave the area in fear.

An area dispatcher later confirmed to WTOL 11 that the noise was from a firecracker.