Loved ones are planning a public memorial service Monday to honor the life of a 9-year-old girl whose body was found in a duffel bag along a hiking trail in Hacienda Heights this month.
Trinity Love Jones will be mourned and remembered during a service at 12 p.m. Monday at St. John Vianney Church, 1345 Turnbull Canyon Road in Hacienda Heights, according to the slain girl’s father, Antonio Jones.
Burial is to follow immediately after, he said in announcement posted via Facebook. The graveside service is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. at at the Queen of Heaven Mortuary, 2161 S. Fullerton Road in Rowland Heights.
A meeting is planned for 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Hacienda Heights Community Center, 1234 Valencia Ave. in Hacienda Heights, following the services.
“We sincerely appreciate all of the prayers and kind acts of love and generosity shown to our family,” Antonio Jones said.
The generosity of the community has been so great that no online fundraising account to help with expenses was needed, he said.
He urged guests to wear bright, cheerful colors, “as we are celebrating a young and vibrant life,” Antonio Jones said.
For those interested in sending flowers, the color theme of the services will be shades of lavender, which was Trinity Jones’ favorite color, pink and white, the father said.
“If you would prefer, please bring a new children’s book. All books collected will be donated, in memory of Trinity, to children in need,” he said.
Los Angeles County prosecutors filed a murder charge Wednesday against the girl’s mother, 28-year-old Taquesta Graham. Her boyfriend, 38-year-old Emiel Hunt, was charged with murder last week.
They’re accused of killing Trinity Jones on or about March 1. The girl’s body was discovered down an embankment and partially stuffed into a duffel bag on March 5 by county workers who were doing maintenance work alongside Hacienda Boulevard, south of Colima Road. Investigators have withheld her specific cause of death, but determined the death to be a homicide.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the girl’s mother’s name. The post has been updated.