The Voice of Southwest Louisiana September 2019 Issue

Blac & Blu
“Who watches the watchers?” --Juvenal, Roman poet
“Surviving Parents of SETX (Southeast Texas) was
founded by two mothers who were strangers and
sadly shared only one thing in common: they had
lost a child through a violent act”
Demetricia “Ann” Pryor-Holloway, of Beaumont,
TX, was one of those mothers.
March 18, 2012 between 12:30am and 2:00am,
DaShondra Guillory, who was four months
pregnant with her unborn child, and her
boyfriend Israel Manning were killed in a
premeditated act of gun violence.
“Mom, I’m fixing to go home and unpack,”
DaShondra told her mother. Demetricia Pryor-
Holloway, is still emotional as she speaks about
what happened
Demetricia, known by her friends as “Dee,” was
26 years old and had just returned home with
her boyfriend Israel, 25. Prior to that, she lived at
home with her mother and two children, Jamiah,
two year old daughter, and Dei’Sean, five year old
son. She had borrowed her mother’s car to go to
work in home health care.
Demetricia had been working with her church’s
praise dance group and returned home around
10:00pm. She talked with her daughter later that
day on the phone, as they usually did. She told
her goodnight and that she would leave the keys
to her Avalanche, with her. Settling in for the
night with all 14 praise dancers, her husband and
younger daughter, she went to sleep.
The next morning, she waited for the call from her
daughter that never came.
“Suddenly, cars pulled up at 10:38,” said
Demetricia. Surprised, she opened the door.
“Hey, I’m looking for Dee’s mom.”
With tears in her eyes, a friend of her
daughter’s said, “Damn! You look really
good to say she was murdered last
night!”
Demetricia didn’t understand. “I’m waiting for her
ONE COMMUNITY, ONGOING CONVERSATIONS
By Jessica Duhon
Who Watches
the Watchers?
to come home and then we’re going to church.”
“Ma’am,” said the friend, “I’ve been at the hospital
since it happened. We watched him [Israel] die.
He is dead.”
Still in disbelief, she went by the house
DaShondra and Israel had just moved into and
nothing looked out of place, and all the police
tape had already been taken down.
When Demetricia arrived to meet her family
at the hospital, it was confirmed. DaShondra,
her daughter was gone. The lead detective on
the case, Aaron Lewallen, was contacted later.
He apologized saying, “I dropped the ball,” in
response to why he had not contacted Demetricia
about her daughter’s death. He explained that
he was staked out trying to catch the perpetrator
and had neglected to contact her in his efforts. It
was a debt that he paid back later by becoming
the chairman of the non-profit organization.
As the story goes, Israel had gotten into a fight,
earlier, with the perpetrator, who was someone
with a name on the street and couldn’t say he
lost a fight. He rode around with his brother,
looking for Israel, finally found the house he had
just moved into with Dee. He pulled up, high
and angry. There was a window where an AC unit
was supposed to go, but only had a screen inside
temporarily. The perpetrator saw his chance.
He shot right through the window, hitting Dee
with so much force it knocked her up against
the wall, splattering brain matter everywhere.
Israel jumped up, moved through the house past
unopened moving boxes, and down the hall
until he faced a man with a gun aimed at him.
The perpetrator shot him 17 times, kicked him
over and finished unloading. But he left two key
witnesses behind: two friends who came to help
them move were still in the house.
To make matters worse, each time the trial was set
it was postponed. Holloway cried for months and
months. “I couldn’t sit in the courtroom the whole
time,” she said. The perpetrator said he didn’t
know Dee was inside, but that he felt justified in
killing Israel. Because of this, he was not charged
for the killing of DaShondra’ unborn child.
After the verdict, but before sentencing,
Demetricia was able to take the stand. The judge
DaShondra Guillory
asked her what she wanted. She said she didn’t
want him to die, that she didn’t believe in the
death penalty, and that he should spend the rest
of his life in prison.
The perpetrator then asked to take the stand,
against his attorney’s wishes. Cruelly, he said,
“Haha, I fooled y’all. I made y’all think I didn’t
know she was there, but I knew she was there.” He
then began to set the story straight. On the night
of the murders, he walked up to the door, greeted
by Dee. “Who are you here for?” asked Dee. “I’m
here to settle the score,” said the perpetrator.
“What are you talking about?” asked Dee. The
perpetrator went on to say, that if he couldn’t get
to Israel, he would get to her because although
he didn’t know who she was, he knew she was
someone important to Israel. But when Israel
heard the gunshots and came running, he ended
up murdering all of them.
The courtroom was shocked. The jurors asked if
they could change the verdict, but it was too late.
So, they made up for it as much as they could
with the sentencing: 20 years for a manslaughter
charge for Dee and 50 years for a murder charge
for Israel, for a total of 70 years.
Hurt and angry, the tears continued to flow for
Demetricia, a grief-stricken mother. “Detective
Lewallen had so much compassion,” she said.
He took time off work to see about her. When
she waited outside the courtroom, his shirt was
covered in her tears and make-up as he tried
to comfort her. Soon, she was to become the
comforter.
L-R: Aaron Lewallen, lead detective in DeShondra's homicide and Chairman of
Surviving Parents of SETX, and Demetricia Pryor-Holloway, Co-Founder.
2012 was a year with back to back murders in
that area. This time, Detective Lewallen called
on Demetricia for help. “I need you to talk to this
mother who lost a child, Lewallen said. I think you
can do this. I think it will be good for her to hear
you have been through the same thing.”
Demetricia gave the mother everything she
needed to cope and guided her through the
system. Everything Detective Lewallen had
given her, she poured back into that mother,
Ann Medina. The three of them went on to
create Surviving Parents of SETX, which is for
parents who have lost children to a variety of
circumstances. The mission is to be the voice,
face, mouthpiece of survival after the tragic loss
of loved ones; compassionately providing support
to meet the emotional, spiritual, physical along
with financial needs of the survivors.
Remarkably, Demetricia had been working as a
mental health professional since December of
2006 and said she has lived in crisis since this
all happened. She did not know she was being
prepared for what she would face.
“I have a lot of anxiety,” said Demetricia. One of
her clients was recently murdered. “It brought me
back,” she said.
“By the Grace of God, I got to keep my
grandchildren,” Demetricia said. Everyday she is
reminded of her daughter through them. “Jamiah
looks like her and Dei’Sean acts like her,” reflects
Demetricia. Their last name is Hope, which is
particularly meaningful for her.
Still in pain from the murder of her daughter,
DeShondra, she was not prepared for the lack
of resources when
it came to assist
in the care of her
grandchildren.
People stepped
up, paid her fees,
recommended an
attorney so she
could gain custody.
For children in
foster care, there
are a variety of
resources; food,
clothing, housing
and tuition. “For
surviving children
there is…nothing,”
said Demetricia.
Mind-blown and
overwhelmed by
everything, it took
her over a year to
go back to work.
It was hard on her
whole family, and
her daughter, Jalynn,
who was 12 at the
time said, “You forgot about me.”
“It is the deepest hurt I ever felt in my life,” said
Demetricia. “Just keep surviving, make a day,
make a minute. I share my experiences, strength
and hope….and that’s what keeps me going.
I don’t want to be in this predicament, said
Holloway.” Admittedly, she never would have
been involved in this type work if it had not
happened to her.
“We are the voice for people hurting, says
Demetricia. “Our motto is moving from grief to
hope together.” We are the face of survivors,” she
said.
Surviving Parents of SETX takes a holistic
approach to helping families heal. They provide
counseling, a food pantry, clothes and other
resources. “We have a lot of volunteers, but
funding has been an issue.” Bob Wortham,
the Criminal District Attorney of the City of
Beaumont, along with his wife Karen, generously
helped them. After her home was damaged by
Hurricane Harvey, she spent most of the money
to buy a building for her organization. When they
start to work with someone, they get a footprint
on the wall. Grief is on the bottom and hope is on
the top, and gradually they move from grief to
hope. They provide childcare and what she calls,
‘grief activities,” for children to help them cope.
“Art is very soothing,” says Demetricia. They paint
pictures of their pain. They are asked, “What does
pain look like today?”
Demetricia has developed a strong relationship
with law enforcement. Her organization has
received two letters of recommendations,
one from the Commander of the Criminal
Investigations Division of the Beaumont Police
Department, and one from the program director
for the Jefferson County Victim’s Assistance
Center, through the office of the District Attorney.
Demetricia’s organization is expected to contact
victims in the first 48 hours of a homicide. She
goes to court and is available to assist families
through the trial. She sits on the outside, like she
always did, and consoles family members. “It’s
hard to wait outside,” she said, “you don’t know
what’s going on inside.”
Her organization is centered around
accountability. “Who is responsible?” said
Demetricia. “I am my brother’s keeper. People
don’t realize until it happens that it can happen to
them.”
Demetricia speaks about the importance of
being connected to law enforcement, to keep
each other accountable, find witnesses and help
families find closure.
“He was not wisely monitored,” Demetricia said
of the perpetrator, who was released December
2011 and committed the murders in March 2012.
He violated parole in multiple ways: he had no
GPS, was out late, in possession of a gun, and was
high. “When you talk to the parents, the stories
are the same.” She says if the rules were enforced,
if someone had done something before the
murders were committed, these homicidal acts
might not have happened.
“If you see something, say something,”
says Demetricia.
It’s starting to make a difference. Currently,
news channels are reporting mass shootings
approximately every two weeks and spreading
nationwide. More people are being affected by
violent crimes and homicides, and more people
are starting to contact law enforcement with
information. “My struggle is not uncommon.
No one is exempt,” Demetricia continues, “It
is affecting the rich as well as the poor. It is
becoming more common, but people are not
talking about it.” A man similarly affected sought
guidance from the organization. He found he
was unable to express himself before. “I’m too
rich to talk about it,” he said. No one wanted to
hear it could happen to him. He said the best
thing that ever happened to him was Demetricia’s
organization. “I can talk, and cry, and you won’t
make fun of me because I am a man.”
Speaking on gun rules and regulations, she
said, “I don’t have the key to it, but I know God
does. Someone needs to be monitoring the
perpetrators, and it needs to be done until they
get it,” said Demetricia.
12 September 2019 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 7 • Number 2 Volume 7 • Number 2 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM September 2019 13