With red, swollen eyes, Alicya Wix looked at the fire in front of her in the backyard of her St. Clair Shores home and struggled to comprehend that it was it started for her sister.
They’d been to so many Native American gatherings around a fire together, for teachings or just to clear their minds.
But this fire had been raging since the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 20 – after her family found out that her sister, Jaquoya Wix, 34, was killed in an apparent random stabbing in downtown Detroit.
“Why? Why her? Why?” I don’t even think I have it in me to be angry. Just shocked that somebody could do that,” said Alicya Wix, 33. As of Monday afternoon, authorities hadn’t announced the name of the suspect or charges against him.
Police say there was little
interaction between the attacker and Jaquoya Wix when, right before 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, he stabbed her as she was on break in the alley behind Chipotle on Woodward Avenue, where she worked. Authorities say he has mental health issues.
At least one witness chased the suspect until he was apprehended, while others tended to Jaquoya Wix, who had run for help and collapsed. Her sister takes solace in knowing she was not alone when she died.
It’s an indigenous tradition that a fire be lit for loved ones lost to light their path to the spirit world, Alicya Wix said. Their family’s tribe is the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and keep close to their culture.
“It’s a journey,” she said, that takes four days. That’s how long loved ones designated as “firekeepers” must keep the flames going at all times.
Last night, their mother – the person who will mourn the death the most – cut a piece of Jaquoya Wix’s hair and tossed it in the fire. Alicya Wix said it’s a signal to her sister that it’s OK to leave this world behind. Next to the fire was a dish holding sweetgrass and the sage Jaquoya Wix personally carried – natural remedies to help her on her journey.
And later, they’ll burn her moccasins so she has shoes to walk in. A blanket to keep her warm. And then, personal items:
“Oh my God, if we don’t burn her curling iron that she just got –“ Alicya Wix said, allowing herself to laugh.
'A beautiful soul'
Next to Alicya Wix by the fire that Monday morning was her and her sister’s best friend, Casey Setty, and Jaquoya Wix’s 15-year-old daughter, Kacya Wix. The girl’s glasses made it known that she has her mother’s eyes.
They spoke of who Jaquoya Wix was – a “beautiful soul” who showed love through acts of service, like cleaning her sister’s house or taking three different bus stops just to bring her daughter Wingstop, her favorite, to school.
She was funny, too – “she talked a lot,” Kacya interjected.
She was known as a dancer at powwows. She took pride in her work. She loved doing her hair, makeup, “loved to be a pretty girl.”
And she was very much someone who lived in the moment. That was something both Alicya Wix and Setty learned from her.
But as bright as her light was, Jaquoya Wix didn’t have an easy life – she’d made some bad choices and hung out with the wrong crowd in the past, her sister said.
“I tried to keep her safe for so long,” Alicya Wix said. Her sister called her her younger-older sister. They protected one another.
After Jaquoya Wix’s daughter began living with her grandmother – Kacya’s father had been shot at a bar by an enraged ex-boyfriend when Kacya was an infant – she worked hard to be better for her daughter.
And she was doing the best she had ever been in her life when she was killed, Alicya Wix said. They were living together and she’d held down a job for a year-and-a-half, the longest she’d ever gone.
And the sisters were closer than ever. They shared their morning routine, when Jaquoya Wix would always make her coffee. Just the day before she was killed, Jaquoya Wix joined her sister on a spontaneous trip to eat crab legs.
Jaquoya Wix was so happy the morning she died, Alicya Wix said. She was excited about where her life was headed, that she was finally making the right choices.
The last thing she said to Alicya Wix was “I’ll see you later” before leaving for her shift at Chipotle. Alicya Wix was supposed to pick her up from work.
Never did Alycia Wix think that was the last time she’d see her sister alive.
“It just doesn’t feel real yet. I feel like she’s going to call me and ask for a ride,” Alicya Wix said.
She knows that when she wakes up in the morning, it will hit her.
Jaquoya won't be there.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Family recalls woman stabbed in Detroit. 'Doesn't feel real yet'
