Tiana Dye turned 21 last month and was gearing up for her last year of college at Alabama State University. Now, friends and family members are grieving after the Riverdale High School graduate was fatally stabbed a little over a week ago.
On the night of July 14, officers found Dye dead in her house in the 400 block of Clanton Avenue, just half a mile from the Montgomery campus. Since then, police officials have shared only limited information about the killing. No suspects have been named, and authorities are still investigating the circumstances of Dye’s death.
Dye’s mother, Danielle Luckett, said she has been frustrated because she has received so few updates on the case.
“I know I can’t get her back, but I want justice for my daughter,” Luckett told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Luckett said her daughter had been living in the house, which is owned by one of her professors, along with three other girls for at least a year before the incident. She added that the only information she has received from authorities in Alabama was about Dye’s body being transferred to a funeral home in Georgia.
In addition to being on the dean’s list at Alabama State and working full time to support herself, Dye, a biochemistry major, was involved in the university’s chapter of the NAACP, the honor society and the leadership committee, according to her family.
Despite her packed schedule, Dye “never really asked people for much, but will give to anyone,” Luckett said, adding that Dye was very independent and worked hard to take care of herself.
“Tiana was a bright young lady full of sunshine, smiling when she saw you, helpful when you needed her to,” Luckett said.
Dye graduated in 2021 from Riverdale, where she was a member of the track and field and volleyball teams. Teachers and coaches, as well as the principal and former classmates, have connected with Dye’s family after her death, “all stating how much they miss her already, because she was always a ray of sunshine,” Luckett said.
“We are asking that you keep her family and friends in your thoughts/prayers as they navigate through this difficult time,” the high school wrote online.
For Luckett, the community response has been “wonderful and overwhelming at the same time.”
Dye’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Aug. 3 at Saint Smyrna Baptist Church in Newnan, with interment to follow at Oak Hill Cemetery. For those wanting to send flowers, the family is asking that they be pink and white.
Luckett set up a GoFundMe campaign that, as of Tuesday morning, had raised just under $5,900 to cover “funeral expenses and supporting Tiana’s family as they navigate this heartbreaking loss.”
Anyone with information about Dye’s case is asked to call Montgomery police at 334-625-2831 or Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP.
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