Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison stood beside the family of slain Jaquoya Wix and wondered what the woman’s last thoughts were before she was stabbed to death in the alley behind the downtown Chipotle where she worked.
“Was she thinking about her daughter? Her family?” he said. "Or simply thinking about trying to make it home?”
No one will know the answers to those questions, but one thing is known, Bettison said.
“Jaquoya fought for her life,” he said at a Thursday, Sept. 24, news conference.
Wix’s sister and mother stood next him, squeezing each other’s hands and wearing sunglasses to hide their tears.
Authorities allege there was little interaction between Wix and Devon Watson, 42, of Detroit, before Watson stabbed Wix several times around 2:30
p.m. on Sept. 20 while she was on break at work. She was “bleeding profusely” and still tried to get help, but collapsed.
Watson was quickly apprehended and charged on Sept. 23 with first-degree premeditated murder. He is reportedly mentally ill, although Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that’s no excuse.
Watson had been admitted to the hospital in July for "acute psychosis," according to a petition to have him hospitalized, and diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.
A doctor checked a box on a report indicating the man could “reasonably be expected within the near future to intentionally or unintentionally seriously physically injure self or others, and has engaged in an act or acts or made significant threats that are substantially supportive of this expectation.”
Detroit officials pledge action after stabbing
Wix’s death was a killing that even those who spent their whole careers in law enforcement struggle to comprehend, Bettison said, and one that hit the whole metropolitan area with grief. He vowed to put more police on foot patrol downtown, focusing on safety in the alleyways. And the CEO of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, James White, said he launched an internal investigation into potential systematic failures between services and the court.
But just the fact that Watson is in custody is enough for Wix to move on in her journey to the spirit world, an Indigenous belief when mourning the dead, her sister, Alicya Wix, said at the news conference.
Alicya Wix thanked Detroit police for swiftly getting Watson off the streets. She thanked the community “for stepping up, supporting us, helping us, and carrying us through the unimaginable loss and pain of losing our Jaquoya. We have felt your love every single step of the way.”
And she thanked the restaurant workers who helped Jaquoya as she bled.
“When the unthinkable happened, they didn’t just stand by. You jumped in, you stepped up to support Jaquoya, and you helped when she needed it the most. Your courage and compassion meant everything to our family,” Alicya Wix said.
“Jaquoya was deeply loved, just as she loved others. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend, a coworker. And her loss leaves a hole in our hearts that can never be filled,” Wix continued.
“But today, because of our community and everyone who refused to look away, justice is moving forward.”
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Chief Bettison offers support to family of slain Chipotle worker
