SUMTER, S.C. — Sumter community members came together to say goodbye to Nevaeh Adams and Sharee Bradley.
The mother and daughter were killed in their home two years ago. On October 18, 2019, Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark announced Adams’ remains were found in a landfill in Richland County, with DNA tests confirming it was the body of the little girl.
It's the tragedy the Sumter community will never forget. Elijah Nelson, Nevaeh's grandfather, organized the effort to remember 5-year-old Nevaeh Adams and her mother Sharee Bradley.
"They go on but their memory still lives," Nelson said. "I miss Sharee and I dearly miss Nevaeh."
During the memorial, balloons were released to commemorate the mother and daughter.
"They up there in that beautiful sky with the lord and I just want everyone to know I love my daughter and my granddaughter." Melissa Nelson, Sharee's mother, said.
Police believe Neveah and Sharee were killed at their home at the Lantana Apartments in Sumter by 29-year-old Duante Johnson. Johnson was located a short time after the killings. Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark was in attendance, and remembers working the case and the scars it left.
"An event two years ago changed this community, it changed this police department, it has left scars on the hearts of many of our officers Neveah Adams and Sherri Bradley were brutally murdered in their home," said Chief Roark.
For Neveah's father, Dupray Adams, the emotion, just got to be too much for the still grieving father, breaking down during an interview with News19.
Adams said, "Its still fresh like it was yesterday."
Police found Neveah's remains in a landfill in Richland County, two months after the murder. They say Johnson confessed to killing them both with a knife. Johnson told officers he dumped Nevaeh's body in a nearby dumpster after the killings.
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Solicitor Ernest Finney said at the memorial, "Doing this 10 years, I have seen a lot of tragedy, but nothing measures up to what we witnessed two years ago, when a mother and child were taken from us needlessly."