Murder victim buried; funeral marred by fight

-- "Let the police and the courts do their ministry," Pastor Harold Wilson begged today in a funeral home chapel.

He looked down on scores of Keiona Cecilia Tiree Braxton's family members and hundreds more well-wishers.

"Our sweet Kee Kee," as he referred to her and whom he had known since childhood, lay in a coffin in front of him, her curls falling over her face, her dark suit highlighting a yellow infant's towel draped across her chest.

"I'm weary of these gatherings," said Wilson, summoning memories of the region's murderous past. He cited crimes in the Gilpin Court housing complex in the city where he has a ministry and where the Braxton family once lived.

They were known there as a loving family who took many, many children in to help raise.

"You had a child you couldn't provide for, the Braxton family was there," said Wilson, after the service.

Keiona Braxton, 26, and three months pregnant, died a horrible death, the pastor said, from an act that was "misguided, wicked and evil."

Search warrants indicate she was shot, stabbed and left to die in an arson fire. There have been no arrests.

Braxton had feared for her life in the months before a fire call to her and her boyfriend's apartment in the 5700 block of Crenshaw Road at around 6:40 a.m., Dec. 31.

She had been expected at her job in a high-tech uniform cleaning business at 6 a.m.

In court documents, Braxton spelled out her fear of a woman named Kayla Armstrong, a longtime rival for her boyfriend Kenneth Lee's affection. Armstrong is the mother of Lee's daughter.

"I received a threating and harassing phones calls stating .. that she was gonna kill me," Braxton wrote in a criminal complaint filed Nov. 18, 2007, in Henrico County.

Criminal complaints and protective orders against Armstrong had been filed by Lee or Braxton since at least 2006, according to court records, and they continued until the days before Braxton's death.

On Dec. 27, Armstrong allegedly assaulted Braxton and damaged Lee's car, court records show. A protective order was served on Armstrong a few minutes before midnight the day of Braxton's death.

Described by Henrico police as a person of interest in the arson and homicide investigation, Armstrong today was ordered held without bond on the vandalism charge in Henrico Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Henrico court records show that Armstrong was convicted of unlawful wounding Sept. 21, 2006; she had knifed Braxton in May that year. Braxton needed 22 stitches, court documents in the case show. Armstrong was sentenced to four years, with all but four months suspended.

Henrico police said this week that the investigation into Braxton's death is proceeding.

At the funeral home, Pastor Wilson spoke to the promise of finding God as an answer to restoring peace in the streets.

"It's time for a change in our communities," he said, as a 10-foot image of Keiona Braxton's smiling face was displayed on a large screen in the chapel.

A procession of some 60 cars made its way through the heart of Richmond to Maury Cemetery after the 90-minute service.

There, family members placed flowers on a jet black coffin and wiped away tears.

But on a nearby hillside pin-cushioned with tombstones, a fistfight broke out among perhaps two-dozen people.

Witnesses said Kenneth Lee was attacked as he got into his car. The scene quickly erupted into a brief free-for-all. Four Richmond Police patrol cars arrived in minutes as participants ran off.

"Let them scatter," one officer said.

After the burial, the Braxton family gathered for a meal.

Joyce Braxton, still dazed from the service, struggled to come to grips with her daughter's death and its consequences.

"I am leaving it all to the police. I'm leaving it all to God," she said. Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .