Hazelwood preschool teacher allegedly killed by husband remembered as loving mother
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Police said a preschool teacher was killed by her husband, who was later found dead in Philadelphia.
Three small children are without a mother and a father, left to be raised by their grandparents. The family would have celebrated Sharay Newson's birthday and one of her children's on Friday. Instead, they're now planning a funeral and say they'll remember her by her maiden name, Sharay Woodson.
"She didn't hurt anybody. All she wanted to do was make her marriage work," her mom Lois Woodson said.
Sharay Woodson was first and foremost a loving and devoted mother to her three small children ages 2, 6 and 9. She was also a loving and devoted wife to her husband of 11 years.
On Wednesday, June 8, she was found dead inside her Hazelwood home after she was reported missing by her mom the day before.
"I knew something was wrong cause she just don't do that. I started calling her phone and it went straight to voicemail," her mom said.
According to the medical examiner's officer, Sharay Woodson died after being stabbed multiple times in her neck.
Police immediately named her husband, Jon Newson, a suspect. The U.S. Marshals Service tracked him to a home in Philadelphia where he was hiding. But before they were able to get into the house, they heard gunshots and found Newson dead.
Sharay Woodson's co-workers say her death has left a huge whole hole in their hearts that will never be filled.
"She's been a fixture. She's the first thing you see in the morning when you open the door to the parents. It'll be a great loss for us," said Raina Kelley at Brightside Academy.
Woodson worked at Brightside Academy as a teacher for 10 years at the Liberty Avenue location. Her coworkers and family say they knew of her troubled marriage and even saw bruises on her arms at times but say she was intent on making her marriage work. She had two PFAs against her husband and repeatedly talked with domestic abuse counselors but always wanted a marriage like her parents.
"'I don't want to be a failure in my marriage.' That's what she kept telling me. 'I don't want to be a failure in my marriage,'" her mom said.
Brightside Academy is going to hold a stuff-a-truck event on Wednesday at their hazelwood location to collect donations for her children.
