Tragedy struck a Florida family within days, leaving three children without their parents. Days after a man was shot and killed, his girlfriend died from complications after giving birth to twins.
On July 11, 26-year-old Jevaughn Suckoo was found shot and killed in the West Palm Beach apartment complex where he lived with his nearly 2-year-old daughter and pregnant girlfriend, Stephanie Caceres.
Three days later, Caceres gave birth to their twins, Jevaughn Jr. and Lailah.
On Wednesday, she died — the same day as Suckoo’s funeral. Family said she died from an infection from her C-section.
As family and friends mourn the couple, they are also thinking about the futures of their three children.
At Juan E. Batista Pediatrics in Lake Clarke Shores, where Caceres worked for four years, family, friends and coworkers gathered Thursday in front of dozens of donations given to the family in the wake of the sudden deaths. Office manager Lina Niemczyk, Caceres’ mother, Irma Meza, and Suckoo’s aunt, Joni Saunders, all spoke about the couple and their children.
“We’re just trying to figure out how to move forward from here,” Saunders said.
Niemczyk said Caceres had “an excellent work ethic” and was her “right and left hand” in the office. Niemczyk said the office and their patients are like a family, so everyone came together to gather items and money for Caceres’s children.
“Our goal is to secure their future,” Niemczyk said. “It’s a promise to their mom and dad.”
Police have made no arrests in Suckoo’s death.
A day after Caceres gave birth to the twins, she took to Facebook to express her distress.
“I just don’t understand how someone can have the heart to leave three kids without a father especially two that never got the chance to even meet him,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “They didn’t deserve this! I’m trying I really am to stay strong but this has to be the toughest battle I’ve ever had to fight.”
A GoFundMe Page has been started for the three children.
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