The family of Damaris Rainwater Hawes has turned to the public to help fund her funeral after the homeless mother of five was found dead in a parking garage in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Hawes was murdered and left in a sleeping bag hidden at a parking garage near Georgia State University on November 14. Police are looking into the surveillance cameras surrounding the garage to find a suspect in the mother’s murder. The article states:
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said Saturday an autopsy is being conducted to determined how the woman, whom they identified as Damaris Rainwater Hawes, 37, died.
Atlanta police said the woman was found with what appears to be blunt force trauma to the head. She was found in a sleeping bag on the first level of the AAA parking garage at Kimball Way and Decatur Street, near Georgia State University, shortly after 11 a.m., police said.
The 37-year-old left behind five children: Desyree, 20, Desmond, 18, Brian, 16, Danyelle, 14, and Dylan, 1. Little is known about Hawes’s situation, but her family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for funeral costs.
Their message reads:
Our beloved sister, Damaris was the victim of a senseless act & was taken from us on Friday, 11/14. Damaris’ five children & the rest of our family & friends will somehow have to figure out how to get through this holiday season without her smile, & the jokes & laughter that we have all grown to know & love. We miss her already!
This fund has been established to help our family cover the expenses for Damaris’ upcoming memorial service, as well as help provide for her children that will be without their mother for the holidays.
Thank you for your contribution. Thank you for your prayers, visits and words of encouragement. Thank you for helping our family lay our loved one to rest. Thank you for helping us provide for Desyree, Desmond, Brian , Danyelle, & Dylan this holiday season. Thank you for the love you have shown.
Please continue to keep our family covered in prayer.
So far, the family has raised $3,775 of their $5,000 goal. Police have yet to release any new information regarding Hawes’s murder.
SOURCE: AJC | PHOTO CREDIT: Handout
