Children witness vicious knife attack on mother

When death strikes, some people are missed more than others; Ava Grant-Mornix will be sorely missed, because she added value to everything she touched.{{more}}

A woman who raised her two eldest children alone, a dedicated schoolteacher, a community activist; that was the 42-year-old Richland Park resident’s profile.

So when on the morning of last Monday, October 8, she was hit in the head with a pipe, then stabbed several times, on her way to work, later dying from her injuries, the echo “she didn’t deserve to die that way” could be heard for miles.

Dillon Saul, 31, Mornix’s cousin, surrendered later the same day, and was remanded on charges of wounding with intent.

Police sources say that the charge is expected to be upgraded to murder.



One person who is left to deal with the deep void Mornix’s death has left is her eldest child, Kenyon Grant.

Kenyon, 23, was at home when his mother left for the Marriaqua Government School that morning, with his five-year-old brother, K’max.

He told SEARCHLIGHT, as he gazed with pained eyes at his mother’s wedding picture on a table in front of him, that he got up to lock a window, and heard the dogs barking and his brother crying.

Then he looked through the glass of the front door and saw an image that will forever be painfully planted in his mind.

Kenyon saw a man stabbing his mother, in the vicinity of a house where a relative lived, just above theirs.

“I tried to rush through the front door to help her, but it was locked, so I had to run through the back to rescue her,” Kenyon said.

Kenyon said that he never knew his mother to be in any conflict with the man, a relative, that killed her, but knew that the man always rambled on; blaming his mother for the state his life was in.



“My mother was my teacher, mother, friend, anything you can think of,” said Kenyon, who told SEARCHLIGHT that he is now determined to do everything to make her proud.

Included in this determination is to help guide his 17-year-old sister Kennisha and brother K’ Max. The telemarketing agent also plans to further his education.

“She always wanted me to do that,” he said.

“I wish I could have rescued her,” Kenyon said.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Mornix said that he is trying to deal with what is a very rough situation.

Maxwell, who was married to Ava for two years, said that he is now forced to live without her, and continue to be a father to his two step children, and his son K’ Max, who they had together.

“We were together since 2000, and we had a great relationship,” Maxwell, a construction worker, said.

At press time an autopsy was expected to be done on Mornix’s body.