Fifteen years ago when I was a general assignment reporter at
The Miami Herald, I wrote several stories about the death of Vera Lawrence, a Miami secretary who died while receiving silicone injections to her butt. During the reporting and followup court hearings, I connected with her daughter Tangela Sears.
I lost touch her as life took me to Boston for 10 years and then back to Miami.
Yet Tangela kept popping up on my radar whenever I read about another gun violence story or tuned into the local Sunday morning shows such as WPLG's
This Week in South Florida where she advocated for safer streets and discussed issues in the community.
I'm glad she remembered me when I reached out to her a few weeks ago. I wanted to see how she was doing and I wanted to catch up with her to write a
followup story on how she deals with the losses in her life. (Her son was fatally shot last year in Tallahassee.) She also told me her about her new support group Parents of Murdered Kids that helps other moms navigate the legal system for their childrens' cases.
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