COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dozens of people gathered this afternoon in north Columbia to honor and celebrate the life of Jaylan Sarah Hasty, who lost her life to domestic violence one year ago. Now, her family has an important message for the world.
Hasty died last August after firefighters were initially called to Heron Lake on North Brickyard Road regarding a water leak. Instead, they found Hasty and her alleged killer, Kenardo Bates, both shot. The Richland County Sheriff's Department said investigators recovered a gun from Bates before he was taken to the hospital. Hasty, however, died at the scene.
Bates was later charged with murder, kidnapping and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in connection with Hasty's death and is still in jail awaiting trial.
On Saturday, there were tears, hope, and a celebration of life by releasing butterflies and balloons. Many loved ones, particularly Jaylan's mother, Monica Hatton, said they see Jaylan's spirit in her daughter Kenslie.
"She is the spitting image, not just because she looks like her mom, she has a big heart, a beautiful smile and a caring spirit just like her mother," Hatton said.
She said that ever since her daughter's death, her mission has been to encourage other young women walking through domestic violence.
"There are people just like my daughter who don't share stories and that's where I'm at. I want to be able to save someone else's daughter," Hatton said.
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Hatton said it all starts with an honest conversation.
"We found one of Jaylan's journals, and she's talked about things that happened way back in 2018, and if she never had the conversations with us, then we couldn't have been able to protect her, and we couldn't," Hatton said. "But it all starts with just being able to communicate with somebody, and if it's not the somebody, your parents, then it needs to be an organization, just like Chandra's organization, just like Hey Brave Girl."
Investigator Chandra Cleveland has walked alongside this family during their grief and said people need to speak up.
"Don't let your pride get you killed because," she said. "There are times and places and organizations out here who can help you."
"That's all I'm here to do, is give someone some experience with what I'm going through, some strength on how to lean on god to get it, and some hope that 365 days today is not going to be the same 300 and, not even 366 tomorrow because my feet are on the ground and I'm running toward domestic violence, toward gun violence, toward anything that's going to help the generations, my grandbabies, and the grandbabies behind me, people I know and people I don't know," Hatton said.