Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Family of Teen Slain in Williamsburg Park Struggles to Pay for His Burial

By Gwynne Hogan | January 27, 2016 3:14pm
 Jovani Cubias, 17, was a lovable, happy teen who never got into trouble, his relatives said.
Jovani Cubias
View Full Caption

WILLIAMSBURG — The family of a slain teenager and aspiring scientist who was stabbed a few blocks from his high school on Jan. 20 is struggling to bury their son.

Jovani Cubias' family, who live in East Flatbush, set up a GoFundMe page three days after his death to help pay the estimated $10,000 bill for his funeral and burial.

The slain 17-year-old's half-sister Lorena Juarez, 24, said the family expects to get around $2,000 from the city's fund for victims of crimes that will help chip away at the hefty sum, but it won't be enough to cover all costs. 

"We don't want to keep my brother any longer in the hospital [morgue]. [We want to] have him back and buried," Juarez said. "It's very expensive. Nobody saved up for this funeral, nobody thinks about saving up for these things."

"We're trying to get as much support as we can," she added.

As of Wednesday, friends and family had chipped in nearly $1,000 of the $4,000 they're hoping to raise.

Cubias, 17, who family members affectionately called "Jova," was stabbed in Sternberg Park in Williamsburg on Jan. 20, a few blocks away from the Green School where he was a junior.

On Friday, police arrested Dante Malary, 19, in connection with his death and were still looking for another man involved as of Wednesday afternoon.

Police and prosecutors haven't yet said what might have motivated the murder, but family members said an older man who was involved with Jovani's girlfriend of three years was itching for a fight for weeks, messaging the boy and demanding they meet to duke it out.

Earlier in the week, Jovani had considered meeting up with the man, but his brother persuaded him against it, family members said.

"This guy is older than you, he's wiser than you," Moris Cubias, 22, Jovani's older brother had counseled him.

Instead, the brothers, who were inseparable according to other family members, hunkered down at home watching movies and eating junk food.

"We just laughed all night."

The joyful 17-year-old adored hip hop, and Wiz Khalifa was one of his favorite artists, family said.

He loved basketball, soccer, bike riding, video games — he was a "Call of Duty" pro — and watching movies and shows. "Family Guy," "Supernatural," and "American Horror Story" were some of his favorites, they said.

And in school, science captivated Jovani the most, his brother said.

"He wanted to be a scientist, he always messed with...electric cords," the older brother said.

Friends would pass off broken gadgets and video game controllers for him to fix.

"Every broken thing...he would fix it," his brother said.

Jovani was anxiously preparing for his future, family members said.

He had visited NYU in the past year and was gearing up to apply. And even though it was months away in May, he'd already started getting ready for his 18th birthday.

He planned to invite his friends for movies and dancing, his brother said.

"I can't wait till you're 18, bro," Cubias remembered telling his little brother. "I couldn't wait."

A nightmarish week began for Jovani's family last Wednesday afternoon when they got call from a school guidance counselor telling them he'd been stabbed.

"When they called I broke into tears. I couldn't stop crying," Cubias said. "I couldn't let him go. He wasn't ready yet."

That night, Cubias tossed and turned until he finally drifted off to sleep around 3 a.m., he said. But an hour later he woke with a start.

"I woke up at 4 a.m. I felt like somebody hugged [me]...I just felt a big hug in my bed," Cubias said. "He was telling me he was ok."

After the first call, they heard nothing more from the school, family members said. 

"They were supposed to come visit my mother but they never showed up," Juarez said. "Maybe they were busy."

The Department of Education said the school's principal has been in touch with the family and will continue to ensure that support is available to those who need it.