SAN ANTONIO – During a church service and memorial for King Jay Davila on Saturday, several in the community, including a family advocate, spoke words of encouragement and hope, as well as telling about their experience with the investigation into his death.
Jasmine McGill has been working with the family since the beginning of the investigation into King Jay’s death.
“These ceremonies have helped tremendously,” McGill said. “None of us have been able to get closure and I can’t imagine what the family must be feeling and I have never met this baby, but today was a moment of closure and a moment of peace in their hearts.”
She said the family has been going through a hard time but seeing the community together has made this situation bearable.
“The family is not very internet-savvy, so seeing everyone come together opened and closed a door at the same time for them,” McGill said. “People of San Antonio care and love King and want to do everything in their power to make this city safe. It is a good thing. They are finding a blessing in a curse.”
McGill said as a religious woman, she felt called to get involved.
“I have a little boy at home, and his third birthday was actually the day they found King’s body,” McGill said. “That was devastating for me, but to meet the family and see how devastating it was for them when my baby has a heartbeat next to me, it put things into a whole other perspective for me. Something about King’s case just really touched me, and I knew that I had to do something. Something physically tugged at my heart and led me here.”
McGill, who is also a nursing student who wants to work with children, started working on a project in King Jay’s honor.
“We started this volunteer service in his honor where we have support from several organizations like Any Baby Can,” McGill said. “We are trying to make it a nonprofit that will be called King’s Angels.”
During the final memorial, four doves were released. One dove represented King Jay and three doves represented the holy trinity.
“During that part, you could tell the bird seemed like it didn’t want to leave the grandmother’s hands,” McGill said, describing the releasing of the birds where the dove representing King Jay was released first by his maternal grandmother. “It was amazing, because the bird flew and sat on the bridge where King Jay was being remembered, and it blew everyone away. The resemblance here and the memories the family is going to have here, I think they are not going to have any problem moving past this.”
McGill added that she is happy everyone has a sense of closure but asks all to continue to pray for the family’s healing process.
“King Jay is in Jesus’s arms, and to me it feels like he is saying, ‘It's OK. It's K. I am moving on. I am going. It is ok,’” McGill said.