JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 40 people gathered near the spot where Yolanda Haynes was killed, holding a vigil to remember a woman they describe as loving, generous, and deeply faithful.
Haynes died Thursday after being stabbed outside the Leyu Food Store on Kings Road. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested 36-year-old Brittany McLean the following day. McLean faces a charge of murder.
Haynes’ sister, Tonya Anderson, said the conflict allegedly began when McLean asked Haynes to borrow money.
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“They said that she asked my sister to borrow some money and my sister said no, so she slapped her and that’s how the fight began,” Anderson said. “And that was on the day before — she came back that day and stabbed her in the heart.”
Haynes’ mother, Judy Yawson, said she saw her daughter the morning she was killed.
“I saw her the morning of the day she was killed, and those words would last with me forever,” Yawson said. “She said, ‘Mom, where are you going?’ And that’s the last thing that I heard my daughter say.”
Anderson said the call came just minutes after she last saw her sister walking from their mother’s house.
“I saw her walking from my mom’s house and like 40 minutes later, that’s when I got the phone call,” Anderson said.
Community members who knew Haynes gathered at the vigil, and Anderson said their presence spoke to the kind of person her sister was.
“When I came around here to find out what was going on, everybody talked good about her,” Anderson said. “That explains why she loved to be around here in this environment because they loved her. She loved them.”
Yawson said the outpouring of support from neighbors and church members meant everything to her family.
“It means a lot for the community to come together to support my family at this time,” Yawson said. “A lot of people didn’t know Yolanda, but the people that did know her, they showed up.”
Anderson said one memory from the days before her sister’s death brings her comfort.
“She went to my mom’s house and had a conversation about God that day before, and she went to church that same day on Wednesday,” Anderson said. “So that’s a big step for me to know that she accepted Christ.”
Both her mother and sister remembered Haynes as someone who put others first.
“She was just a loving, giving person,” Anderson said. “And that’s just who she was.”
“She would do anything to help you,” Yawson added. “I will remember her by the kindness that she showed towards me.”
Yawson said she has chosen to forgive McLean, but she will never stop thinking about the day her daughter was killed.
“I truly forgive her because I am a Christian and I can’t hate her,” Yawson said. “But I will always remember the 23rd of July that she took my daughter’s life.”
Anderson echoed that sentiment, saying she plans to be present for every step of the legal process.
“I want the young lady to know that I forgive her, but I will never forget,” Anderson said. “I will be to every court date. The trial. I’ll be to everything. Because she didn’t deserve this. She had a loving family that loves her.”
Yawson said she wishes things had ended differently.
“My thing is, I would have given her the money to keep my daughter alive,” Yawson said. “No amount of money is worth taking someone’s life.”