Funeral services have been held for a Trenton woman and her son, whose bodies were found in their home after a 37-hour standoff there last weekend.
The Times of Trenton reports Carmenlita Steven's four surviving children were among those attending Saturday's service for the 44-year-old woman and 12-year-old Quavon Foster. It was held Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton.
Authorities have said both victims died from stab wounds on April 25 and had been dead in the home for nearly three weeks before the standoff began May 10. It ended two days later, when hostage-taker Gerald Tyrone Murphy, Steven’s boyfriend, was fatally shot in the head by police who stormed the home.
Murphy, 38, a registered sex offender, informed them there was a dead body in the room with him and another dead body in another room as they walked into the home. According to investigators, Steven’s and her son both killed on April 25.
An autopsy revealed that Foster suffered from multiple stab wounds to the chest. His mother also died of multiple stab wounds to the chest as well as blunt force trauma to the head.
Police then say they learned that Murphy was barricaded inside the room with Stevens' three other children, ages 18, 16 and 4. Murphy also claimed he was armed with a handgun as well as explosives, according to investigators.
All four of Stevens' surviving children: 19-year-old Javon, the two daughters ages 18 and 16, and Stevens' 4-year-old son, attended the service. Stevens 18-year-old daughter, Nyesha Foster, was one of the speakers who memorialized her mother, according to the paper.
"I just want to say, 'Mommy, I love you,'" Foster said. "Whenever she made a move, I made a move," Foster said. "Whenever she was sad, I was sad."
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Investigators are looking into whether Stevens' 16- and 18-year-old daughters were sexually abused by Murphy while they were held captive.
The state's attorney general's office is handling the investigation.
