RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A grieving mother is demanding answers after she said a bench made to memorilize her daughter was stolen.
On April 10th, 2022, Richmond Police Department officers rushed to a home on Afton Avenue for a report of a shooting. At the home, they found 17-year-old Samiyah Yellardy with a gunshot wound in the stairwell. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nearly two years later, Yellardy’s murder remains unsolved — and a memorial put up in her memory has vanished.
The purple wooden bench, which was located near Afton Avenue, included a mural of Yellardy. Akeyia Pernell, Yellardy’s mother, said the bench was a gift from a community artist to honor her late daughter’s life.
“We come and visit, we come and sit and talk about Samiya, just think about Samiya when we miss her. We feel closer to her when we are on the bench,” said Pernell.
Pernell said she noticed it was missing in August and contacted the city, as well as the apartment complex it had been sitting outside of, but neither claimed to have moved it.
The artist who made the bench posted online last week in hopes of finding it as well. Pernell told 8News she believes she knows who took it.
“I automatically feel like I thought it was related to her death, her murder,” said Pernell. “They wanted to make me mad.
Pernell said she’s been providing leads to Richmond Police, but said she feels like she’s hitting a dead end. A spokesperson from the department told 8News there are no new updates in Yellardy’s case after nearly two years.
“I don’t really know which way to turn,” said Pernell. “You know, I’ve never had this happen to me before so I don’t know which way to turn, so it’s been heavy and it’s been overwhelming,” Pernell said.
Pernell said she has filed a police report about the missing bench and just hopes to get it back.
“Y’all already took her,” said Pernell. “The bench, please, it can be returned? We can’t get her back, but we can get the bench back. Please return my baby’s bench,” Pernell said.
Richmond Police ask anyone with any information about Yellardy’s death to call Major Crimes Det. Sgt. J. Bridges 804-646-8146.
