Funeral services began this week for two children who Detroit police say appear to have frozen to death while they slept in a van in a downtown casino parking garage.
On Wednesday, mourners paid their respects at a public visitation at the New McFall Brothers Funeral Home in Detroit. Inside, two caskets, one light blue and the other pink, were adorned with roses and baby’s breath flowers, and stuffed animals. There were mementos of childhood in the room — a poster of Bluey, the children’s cartoon, and a framed jersey.
A banner read: “Rest Peacefully, Darnell Jr. and Amillah ‘Forever in our hearts.’ ”
Deputy Mayor Melia Howard, who was at the public viewing on Wednesday, identified the children as 2-year-old A’millah Currie and 9-year-old Darnell Currie.
As Detroiter Kim Dewberry left the funeral home, she reflected on the need to care for one another — even strangers. She did not personally know the family but came to the public visitation to support them and give homage to the children. She wasn’t there to judge the mother, she said — just to pray for the entire family.
“You just never know what anybody is going through,” Dewberry said.
Another mourner, Darrell Pickett, was saddened that the family was unable to get the resources they needed to get off the streets. The situation, he said, could have been avoided. After Pickett heard about the children’s deaths and that the family had reached out for help, he said he felt anger. He hoped the city paid more attention to homelessness. Families are struggling, he said, and they shouldn’t have to.
“With all the taxes that people pay in this city. … You’re building up the city, but you’re forgetting about the people that live in it,” Pickett, of Detroit, said.
Howard spoke through tears on Wednesday as she implored families sheltering in cars in the cold to call the city’s housing resource helpline at 866-313-2520 to get into a family shelter. She planned to stay at the public visitation to support the family, who she said is grieving.
“The focus needs to be on the family, and prayers for the family, to uplift them and hold them close … because this is just a tragedy. … We are committed to continuing our service to this family,” Howard said.
The New McFall Brothers Funeral Home is providing funeral services for the family at no cost. Mayor Mike Duggan met with the family, she said. She described the meeting as “a space of peace, of understanding, of heartfelt love, of heartbreak.”
The mother, with four of her children, and their grandmother, with one of her children, were unhoused and sheltering in a van when they entered the parking garage of Hollywood Casino at Greektown around 1 a.m. Feb. 10, according to police.
Sometime during the night, the car stopped running — police said there was some sort of mechanical issue.
By noon that same day, the mother noticed her 9-year-old son wasn’t breathing. A family friend took the child to the hospital.
Shortly after, the grandmother reported the mother’s 2-year-old daughter was no longer breathing. The family friend went back to pick her up and transport her to the hospital.
Both children died. Police believe they froze to death, although the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office hasn’t yet released an official cause of death.
Prior to the tragedy, Duggan said the mother had called the city’s homeless response team at least three times asking for help, most recently in November, when she told a staffer she was living with family but would not be able to stay there longer.
She never followed up with the city after that November, and the city never followed up with her, Duggan said. Her situation was not deemed an emergency by the response team, he said.
The mother reportedly called other shelters, too, but were told they were full.
Duggan requested the city and its housing department investigate what went wrong and how they could prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. That review is underway, Howard said.
Funeral services begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the Triumph Church on 2760 E. Grand Blvd. in Detroit. Family hour is at 10 a.m.
Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @NushratR.
