KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A frustrated mother is taking matters into her own hands to cope with her daughter’s loss.
"Destiny was my first-born," DiHaan Coody said. "I feel like I have to be that voice, that face for her so that justice can come about."
After five months, Coody still doesn't have a clue who shot her daughter, 25-year-old Destiny Weaver, to death at Tower Park in Waldo. Weaver was slumped over in the driver’s seat when two trail walkers noticed her.
Coody describes her daughter as beautiful and vibrant. Weaver was a fashionista, launching her own fashion line before she died.
With 112 murders so far in 2017, and half of them solved, many mothers like Coody can feel hopeless.
"At the end of the day, it could have just been me facing this whole tragedy by myself," Coody said.
But she is taking her grief and turning it into action. Coody is joining up with Monique Willis with Momma on a Mission and Michelle Metje with Corey’s Network.
"No one’s going to do it but your momma," Willis said.
"A united front is exactly what we need," Metje added.
Metje and Willis will help Coody to be a support system for other families when the tips just aren't coming in.
Coody’s new organization, Justice For Destiny, Inc., will help connect grieving families with resources to move forward.
After Weaver died, both Willis’s and Metje’s organizations donated money to her funeral.
"It’s just showing a joint effort. There’s power in numbers," Willis said.
Willis’s son, Alonzo Thomas IV, was gunned down in 2014. Police haven’t arrested anyone yet.
"We have now helped pay for 79 funerals," Metje said.
Metje started her organization after her son, Corey Laykovich, was stabbed to death in 2013. In January, police arrested John Steger in the murder.
Now, all three are inviting other mothers to meet hate with love.
"I believe that if I’m going to be a support system to the community, I feel like why not join together as a unity and bring that forth," Coody said.
Justice for Destiny is holding its first fundraising event on Nov. 12 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center.
