Mother of victim in triple homicide in Homewood on New Year's Eve speaks out after arrest is made
Mother of victim in triple homicide in Homewood on New Year's Eve speaks out after arrest is made
· MSNThe man who was wanted in connection to the fatal shooting of three people on New Year's Eve in Homewood South was taken into custody on Thursday, Pittsburgh police said.
Ronald Steave, 29, of Pittsburgh is accused of killing Nandi Fitzgerald, 28, her son, Denzel Nowlin, 12, and Tatiana Hill, 28.
The mother of Tatiana Hill, Deatra Morton-Searcy, said she feels some relief, knowing the man police say killed her daughter is in jail.
"I am not going to get my daughter back, but it does bring me just a little closure, but I do want to ask him, ‘why?” Morton-Searcy said.
After months of searching and the U.S. Marshals offering a reward for information at one point, Steave was taken into custody in McKeesport by the ATF, U.S. Marshals western PA Fugitive Task Force, Pittsburgh police and McKeesport police.
Steave was being charged with three counts of criminal homicide and possession.
Morton-Searcy said is now caring for Hill's two children.
"I'm pushing because of these boys. Her sons need me,” Morton-Searcy said.
Morton-Searcy said her daughter was raised in Penn Hills and graduated with high honors from Penn Hills Senior High School in 2012. She said Hill was killed one month from starting nursing school.
“Tay knew by doing so she would make a better life for herself and her sons. In that very moment, Tay matured into a self-loving black woman on a mission,” her obituary read.
Hill had been working as a CTA while focused on her plan to become a nurse.
“She was a mom, a good friend, and that's the reason why she was there in the first place, being a friend to her friend, who had lost her child,” Morton-Searcy said.
Police said Steave and Nandi Fitzgerald shared a 4-year-old child who died in November 2021.
On New Year's Eve, Morton-Searcy says she believes her daughter died trying to protect Fitzgerald's son, Denzel Nowlin Jr.
“Being the way she was shot in the extremities, where she was shot at, it shows she was fighting, she was fighting, she wanted to survive, and she wanted to make sure that baby survived as well,” Morton-Searcy said.
TOP STORIES FROM WTAE:
Charges likely after dogs abandoned in vacant home for weeks
Man wanted in connection to triple homicide in Homewood South arrested in McKeesport
Jim Rogers grand jury's work unrelated to city's internal decisions on police officers
Pittsburgh police: Man who was barricaded inside home in Sheraden taken into custody
Two people arrested after woman stabbed near gas station in Edgewood
Man in critical condition after shooting in Northview Heights
READ THE FULL STORY:Mother of victim in triple homicide in Homewood on New Year's Eve speaks out after arrest is made