Deceased teen's family from Sterling Heights sets up scholarship in her honor

(FOX 2) - The spring of 2019 would have been the year Jada Rankin would have graduated high school.

Instead, in October of 2016 she was shot and killed. The murder remains unsolved, but her family has now set up a scholarship in honor of their daughter.

"As a community, we need to all come together and unite and just put the guns down," said Piper Jenkins, Rankin's godmother.

Jenkins owns the Trendy Treatz bakery on West Seven Mile. To celebrate Rankin's birthday, she whipped up a new flavor of cupcake.

"To celebrate her birthday, I created Jada's purple party cupcake, lavender purple with purple icing," she said.

On Saturday, from 1-7 p.m., customers can check in at the bakery and purchase the cupcake and cheesecake jars on display. In memory of Rankin, some of those proceeds will go toward a scholarship for a graduating Sterling Heights senior that will get to do what the former honor student did not.

"We miss her everyday, everyday is a struggle," Jenkins said. "We have our good days, we have our bad days."

Killed leaving her grandmothers house, the case is without any leads. If you know anything regarding the murder, please contact Crime Stoppers at 1800-Speak-Up.