forgiven, but not forgotten

On November 7, 2000, Deandra Mekel Buchanan, then 27 years old, shot and killed his stepfather, William Jefferson, his aunt, Juanita Hoffman, and his girlfriend, Angela Brown, during a party at his stepfather's house in Columbia, Mo. Angela Brown left behind two daughters. Dreisha, who was 2 years old at the time, and Drejanay, six months old, were both with their mother when their father shot her. Angela's mother Valeria adopted the two little girls and raised them as her own. Their love and her faith were the two main forces that kept Valeria alive in the years to come. Theirs is a story of loss, grief, love and forgiveness.

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