Family and friends gathered at Lake View Cemetery to celebrate and remember the life of Alianna DeFreeze Saturday on the second anniversary of her death.
Alianna was en route to school when she vanished from a bus stop near East 93rd Street and Kinsman Road in Cleveland. Police found her body, which showed signs of rape and torture, inside an abandoned Fuller Ave. home days later. Christopher Whitaker was sentenced to death for the brutal murder in March 2018.
The two-year anniversary memorial was held at the same place Alianna was laid to rest. Family and loved ones prayed, sang, and read emotional poems. Many people spoke about Alianna’s legacy, how she impacted them, and what needs to be done moving forward to ensure the safety of children.
“Our baby was taken away, but there’s lives in danger every morning when children go to school,” Damon DeFreeze, Alianna’s father, said.
The tragedy led the family to create a non-profit organization called the Alianna DeFreeze Let’s Make A Change Foundation. The idea is to educate children on stranger danger—but beyond that, they want a network of safe transportation vehicles to make sure kids get to and from school safely. The foundation also wants to rid the city of Cleveland of abandoned and dilapidated buildings, which the family say could be potential places a kidnapper could take a child.
Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a bill called "Alianna’s Alert," which will require Ohio schools to notify parents when their child doesn’t show up two hours after the start of school. The law goes into effect in April.
The family say more work still needs to be done.
"We just have to have police presence, traveling these routes the buses travel….park over here, sit with your parking lights on. Be present," Damon DeFreeze said.