PEORIA — The mother of the city’s latest homicide wants people to know her daughter was a mere bystander.
“She just had her nails, hair and toes done. She wasn’t fighting. She doesn’t have a scratch on her from the fight,” said Sherrce Abbey, the mother of Charee A. Alexander, who was pronounced dead at 2:05 p.m. Friday after being stabbed in the neck the day before.
Alexander, her mother said, was at Schmoeger Park on Thursday afternoon to support her sister who was involved in a melee with another girl. Instead, the “girly girl,” the one who was always concerned about how she looked and stood by her friends, was stabbed in the neck. She was rushed to the hospital, but her injuries were too severe.
“They told us at eight in the morning, but we had to wait until they pronounced her at 2:05 p.m. They had to wait to have the chemicals and the anesthesia out of her. It was horrible. I was strong for my kids, but I would go downstairs by myself and cry,” she said.
According to Peoria police, officers were called to the park, located at 3400 N. Western Ave., on a report of a large fight. Additional calls were received indicating numerous fights happening simultaneously, spilling into the street and into yards. While responding, officers stopped a vehicle leaving the area and inside was the woman who was stabbed. She was taken to a hospital, bleeding profusely from a stab wound to the neck. Alexander was on life support until being pronounced dead.
Her mother said her daughter’s organs were donated because “that’s what she would have wanted.”
Harwood declined to rule on a cause of death, saying that would come after an autopsy. A teenage boy, Alexander’s nephew, according to Abbey, was also stabbed. He suffered a non life-threatening injury. His condition wasn’t known Friday night.
Her boyfriend of five months, 20-year-old Brylin Greene, said Alexander was a kind, compassionate person who would do anything for her friends. She had just graduated from high school and working at the mall. Her dream was to become a hair dresser, he said.
“She was really smart, generous and cared a lot about the people she loved,” he said.
Alexander leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter named Kyla, who now has lost both of her parents. In December 2016, the child’s father and Alexander’s boyfriend at the time, Deven Lee, 18, was gunned down in the 1800 block of North Indiana Avenue in Peoria. It was hard on Alexander and her friends. Her mother said Alexander was the type to keep friends for a long time.
Another friend, Sara Martin, said Alexander’s death was like losing “Deven all over again.”
Martin watched Kyla while Alexander would go to work. She was close friends with her and Abbey and is “heartbroken” over the stabbing. But she’s also upset that Kyla will now not have her parents to guide her.
“She’s not going to be expected to make it in this world, but we are going to make sure of that. She’s got a lot of people around her who are going to help.”
As for her friend, Alexander, neither she nor Greene know what happened. They said it was not in Alexander’s character to get into a fight. “She was small. If you looked at her, she looked like she was 16,” they both said.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Martin said softly.
The fatal stabbing remains under investigation, and anyone with information should contact the Peoria Police Department at 673-4521 or CrimeStoppers anonymously at 673-9000.
Abbey, Alexander’s mother, implored the public to help. “We are still looking for these people — and the family wants justice.”