Community raises money for scholarship in honor of slain Charlotte woman

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There's an effort to raise money for a scholarship in honor of Ketie Jones, a woman who was shot and killed about six months ago walking home from a Plaza Midwood club.

There have been no arrests or answers in her slaying.

Brendon Coffey, who knew Jones since high school, is helping organize the fundraiser.

"Ketie was one of the most positive people I've ever met in my entire life," Coffey said.

Friends and family say they want her memory to live on.

The endowed scholarship, the Ketie Memory Jones Memorial Arts Award, will help aspiring artists like Jones once was, and will be for University of North Carolina-Charlotte students.

"It aligns with who Ketie was and like how she, you know, took everything in life and made it beautiful," friend Sharon Horinka said.

Midwood Smokehouse, where Jones worked, Snug Harbor and Common Market will donate proceeds toward the fund, but the group needs to raise $25,000. So far, it's raised $18,000, which is mostly money left over from Jones’ funeral fund that her mother wants to give back.

"It was money from the community, so she didn't really want to take it,” Horinka said. “She wanted to put it back into the community."

The first fundraiser is Tuesday at Midwood Smokehouse.

Cox Media Group