Mourners attend vigil for woman found dead Dec. 31

Speaking to a crowd of mourners tonight at a Henrico County apartment complex, Pastor Harold Wilson spoke of the senselessness of a young woman's death there and asked that hatred, anger and revenge be put aside.

"Don't let this cripple us," said Wilson, pastor of Victory Life Fellowship on Chamberlayne, as more than 100 people raised their hands toward a half moon overhead.

Candles burned at the door beneath a "do not enter" sign at Apartment L, where 26-year-old Keiona Cecilia Tiree Braxton was found unconscious sometime before 7 a.m. New Year's Eve by firefighters.

Efforts to resuscitate her failed.

Police have not released a cause of death but are investigating the case as a homicide. A woman described by police as a person of interest is in custody on charges stemming from an altercation with Braxton just after Christmas

Joyce Braxton said her youngest child, whom she called KeeKee, was three months pregnant; she said that the father of the child had been living with Keiona Braxton for the past few years.

But police said a dispute had arisen between Braxton and the other woman, Kayla Camille Armstrong, 25, who had a previous relationship with the boyfriend.

Neighbors said last night that an angry fight had broken out Dec. 27 between the two women at Braxton's townhouse in the 5700 block of Crenshaw Road, off Chamberlayne Avenue, just north of the city limits.

"I had told her that it could be dangerous, that she could be killed but she felt like she could handle everything," Joyce Braxton said last night. In the incident Dec. 27, Keiona Braxton had received a gash to her head.

Family members said the boyfriend was present last night at the vigil, but he could not be found afterward for a comment. He was not at home when a fire broke out Dec. 31 shortly after 6:30 a.m., Joyce Braxton said. He and Keiona both worked at a laundry, she said.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

-- Bill McKelway