WASHINGTON PARK — The Family of De'Kayla Dansberry, the 16-year-old stabbed to death in a fight, is trying to raise $7,000 to cover funeral expenses and buy a tombstone.
"We are raising money so that De'Kayla can have a beautiful homegoing service and a tombstone for the burial," family posted on a GoFundMe page.
The funeral is scheduled for May 25, friends of the family said, but further details weren't immediately available.
De'Kayla was stabbed once in her chest during a fight at 7:30 p.m. Saturday near the entrance to Parkway Gardens apartment complex at 6400 S. King Drive, according to police. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
A 13-year-old girl has been charged with murder, and the girl's mother — who allegedly gave her daughter a knife — also faces murder charges.
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De'Kayla attended Johnson College Prep in Englewood. She was an athlete who had dreams of making it out of the South Side and helping others, friends said.
“She was just a good kid," Johnson Principal Matt Brown said in an email. "She was just that kid who was at school doing what she needed to do. As a principal, you don’t find enough time to tell her what a great job she was doing.”
The school released a statement referring to De'Kayla as a "wonderful young woman with a bright future."
She ran track and had earned a spot in an upcoming state competition. She also was on track to finish the year on the honor roll.
One of her teachers posted an essay De'Kayla wrote earlier this year on Facebook about how much she loved the South Side and wanted to give back to her community. The teacher declined to be interviewed.
SaRah Valentine, executive director of nonprofit Swag the Runway, said all the teen talked about was how she was going to help the South Side.
"De’Kayla was always talking about her future and how she loved where she lived, but would always say how she would give back, what she would do for her community," she said.
De'Kayla had been participating in the Swag the Runway program since its beginning in 2013. She learned modeling skills, but the program director said girls are offered more than technique tips.
They were given a safe space to talk; they learned etiquette and even conflict resolution, Valentine said.
"It hurts me so bad to find out that that is how she ended up passing," she said. "I’m baffled, I’m speechless, I’m angry, I’m hurt, I’m everything. I’m every emotion you can think of. The only peace that I get is that I know that, even though she was here for a short time, I know I brought some happiness to her. I know she had happiness on that stage. She enjoyed life."
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