NEW CASTLE — Forced to grieve in the glare of the national spotlight, the family of Kenzie Marie Houk came together Tuesday night in a small funeral home chapel to say goodbye.
Inside, where Houk lay in an open casket, friends and family celebrated the life of a young woman who they said took her daughters everywhere, struck up conversations with strangers and visited sick relatives just to sit with them and do their hair.
Outside, the line of mourners stretched hundreds of feet along Cunningham Avenue. At least 1,000 people were estimated to be waiting in the cold to pay their respects.
"Look how many friends she had," said Darryl Fulkerson, 58, of Shenango, a family friend who motioned to the line of people. "She was a good mom. You couldn't find a better family."
Houk, 26, who was due to give birth to a boy the first week of March, was fatally shot in her New Galilee home Friday. Police believe her fiance's 11-year-old son, Jordan Anthony Brown, who was struggling to adapt to his new family, shot Houk in the back of her head while she slept in bed, killing her and the unborn child.
Jordan was awaiting transfer to Allencrest Detention Center in Beaver County this morning, according to court documents filed yesterday. He was at the Lawrence County Jail, where staff had to isolate him from the adult population.
"This is much better," defense attorney Dennis Elisco said as he left his office. "They have a great reputation for safety, and we don't have to worry about bringing a tutor in. They have classrooms."
Still, he added: "I'm sure he'll be the youngest one there."
Houk's daughters, Jenessa Nicole Houk, 7, and Adalynn Johna Houk, 4, are living with her parents.
As the Houks struggle to comprehend the killing, Apostle David M. Young Sr. of Prevailing Word World Outreach Center in New Castle urged the family to forgive their daughter's killer.
"Forgiveness, like love, is not a feeling. It involves feeling, but you have to decide to forgive," said Young, who officiated at the funeral service.
"Your feelings may not catch up for a long while, but you have to make the decision to forgive. If you don't, you make that person a prisoner in your heart forever. It's a cancer, it's a sickness, it will eat you up alive, and you'll never have peace."
Young's message of forgiveness began to take hold last night.
"Chris (Brown), he's a victim. This is probably harder on him than a lot of people realize," said Willard Houk, 56, of Castlewood, Kenzie Houk's uncle. "I've got two boys of my own. I'd back them to the hilt if anything happened."
Jordan's father, Christopher Brown, did not attend the service. Elisco said officials at the Roger M. DeCarbo Funeral Home arranged for a private viewing of Houk's body during the day.
"He's just in a state of shock," Elisco said, adding that Brown does not wish to speak publicly. "He's not prepared emotionally. He's just devastated."
Kenzie Houk's immediate family did not speak to the camera-laden news media gathered outside the funeral home last night, but Kenzie's mother, Deborah Houk, said Monday that she was not yet able to forgive.
"If you have children, you'd know what I am going through," she said, sitting on her living room couch surrounded by family. "My daughter was a happy little girl. She was a pistol, but she was a happy little girl. ... I don't understand how something like this could happen."
Young said healing takes time.
"This here was unfathomable. It is hard to imagine. But this is the world we live in," he said.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo, a father of three young boys, said he expects Elisco to ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court. Bongivengo said he has not decided whether to resist such a move.
The Houk family held a private ceremony for Kenzie Houk's unborn child, according to the funeral home. She planned to name the child Christopher, after her fiance.
Houk and her son, Christopher, will be buried together in a private ceremony today at Parkside Cemetery.
In addition to her parents and daughters, Kenzie Houk is survived by grandparents Emmett ''Mike'' Burns and Dorothy (Richards) Burns of New Castle; sister, Jennifer N. Kraner and brother-in-law Jason Kraner of New Castle; and half-sister Jackie Petty of Seattle.
