On July 1, model Jokisha Brown arrived to a location to get her hair and makeup done in Atlanta when she was shot and killed, just one day before her 36th birthday. Tragically, this is not the first loss for her family, as her brother Marlon was murdered this past March.
And now the family says they are dealing with phony GoFundMe pages as they are trying to mourn their loss.
Three GoFundMe accounts were set up claiming connection to Jokisha Brown but family says only one account is directly linked to the family.
One of the accounts not linked to the family has raised more than $15,000.
“Why would someone do that?” she said. “I haven’t got a dime, I haven’t received nothing, I never knew nothing about none of them, only one.”
Beverly McClain with families of Slain Children says she has helped families whose loved ones were murdered for years but has never heard of anything like this.
“You got nerve enough to take the money that somebody donated to bury somebody with,” said Brown’s mother. “Law enforcement need to check out this.”
We found two GoFundMe campaigns for Jokisha; one started by Shamika Smith Barr with a $15k goal has raised $5735 that states it has been authorized by Jokisha’s family.
Another, started by Jordan Brown, has been removed from the site but remains in GoFundMe’s search results:
Sadly enough, it appears as though a campaign started by Jokisha herself to bury her brother Marlon is still live on the site as well. That effort raised over $15k.
Her death is still under investigation.