Official Raising Money To Bury 11-Year-Old Waukegan Child Abuse Victim
(CBS) -- An 11-year-old victim of child abuse dies and to make this story even sadder, there's not enough money to bury the child.
CBS 2's Jim Williams reports a government official is trying to raise money to give the girl in death what she didn't have in life.
The girl lived in Waukegan. Authorities say her mother Nicholette Lawrence punched the child in the stomach and she later died. Lawrence is charged with murder.
Weeks after Raashanai Coley's death, her body is still at the morgue.
"I can't think of a person who has a heart that wouldn't want to do right by this child," said Warren Township Supervisor Suzanne Simpson.
Simpson is leading the effort to raise money for the girl's burial. The township is donating a grave at a North Chicago cemetery. But there are other costs, including the funeral home, a casket.
Her mother is custody and her father's in prison for an unrelated crime. She has no one else. A very sad life that authorities say included evidence of malnutrition and cigarette burns on her body.
Suzanne Simpson has one hope.
"I want her to have some dignity in death that she didn't have in life," Simpson said.
Neighbors in Waukegan are holding bake sales, but they are far from the $4,000 needed for the burial. If you like to make a donation, Supervisor Suzanne Simpson says you can write a check to Warren Township and indicate you want the money to go toward Raashanai Coley's burial.
