Vigil held in Detroit for deceased mother of two

DETROIT (WJBK) - Family and friends gathered the courage to hold a vigil Saturday evening to honor the life of 20-year-old Deann Robinson at the same abandoned house where her body was found last month.

Robinson had been missing for a year before police found her body in the house near the corner of Sturtevant Street and Linwood on Detroit's west side. Police said the victim's 48-year-old boyfriend Jerry McCoy confessed to killing her and dumping the body inside the vacant house.

"I've actually (been) passing her every morning, taking my niece to work. ... Never knew she was here for a whole year," said Latressa Giles, Robinson's mother.

McCoy has been charged in her death. He was arraigned and remains in police custody.

"We need to stop this senseless crime," said Helen Rollins, the victim's grandmother. "You didn't just take a daughter from a mother, you took a mother from two beautiful little kids, which one is my granddaughter. It's so hurtful. We need to stop this senseless crime, and wake up."

LaTina Giles, Robinson's aunt, said it's been hard and that the family misses her. She said she gained the courage to come back to where her niece's body was found for the memories.

"For memories, knowing this was the last place she was at," Giles said.

Police found Robinson's body in the basement of the vacant home on February 29. Neighbors like Stanton Stephen said they never noticed anything suspicious about the house.

"The tape and stuff, I was like, 'What's going on?" he said. "It has been a dope house but it has been abandoned for years."

Robinson, who was known for leaving for periods at a time, was last seen at her home on West Chicago in Detroit at 11 a.m. on New Year's Day 2015. She was a mother of two.