'No One Deserved To Be Treated This Way' Joliet Victim's Family Says

JOLIET, IL — Two weeks after about 30 close-knit family members gathered for their Christmas celebration, the family of 24-year-old Maya Smith is now mourning her shocking death and planning her funeral. Arrangements for Joliet's first homicide victim in 2023 were finalized Tuesday through Minor-Morris Funeral Home on Joliet's Richards Street.

Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 402 Singleton Place. The funeral service will begin at 10:30 a.m. inside the church. Interment following the funeral service will be at Elmhurst Cemetery, 1212 East Washington St.

"No one deserved to be treated this way," said Bonnie Winfrey, Maya Smith's aunt.

The slain mother from Joliet was discovered around 12:20 a.m. Sunday, when Joliet police responded to a complaint of a car parked in an alley west of the 1200 block of Clement Street. Officers found Smith dead in the front seat with multiple gunshot wounds, police have said.

Smith's 2-year-old daughter was found unharmed in the backseat. Smith's killer got away.

Winfrey told Joliet Patch that Smith's little girl is now with family.

Smith grew up in Joliet and went to Joliet Central High School. She was recently working in customer service at a bank in Joliet.

"She was taking classes to work toward being a nurse," her aunt told Patch on Tuesday. "Maya was a beautiful person, inside and out. She enjoyed being a mom for her daughter. She loved her family and she loved people."

Winfrey said that Smith "just loved to have fun. She was definitely a person that loved fashion, just someone who dressed very stylish."

Winfrey said her niece was living in Channahon.

Patch asked if family members have been told why Smith and her little girl were in the alley on Clement Street, which is near Ingalls Avenue.

"We don't know that yet," Winfrey said.

MAJOR UPDATE: Smith's family told Patch they had been notified of Tuesday night's arrest. Joliet police have arrested 47-year-old Jermaine Mandley of Bolingbrook on three counts of first-degree murder, another story first reported by Joliet Patch.

"We are glad the suspect has been apprehended. This was a senseless crime! Our community is safer. We thank the police for their hard work," Maya Smith's aunt, Bonnie Winfrey, wrote Joliet Patch's editor.

Related Patch coverage:

Arrest Made In Joliet Slaying Of Maya Smith: Source

Coroner Identifies Joliet Woman Found Slain In Vehicle