GoFundMe for murdered Serenity Hawley smashes goal as community mourns passing of bright light
BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA: The GoFundMe page for deceased Virginia teen Serenity Hawley went well past the desired goal after the community poured in immense love for the teenager.
In a horrifying incident, Serenity was killed by her ex-boyfriend in a murder-suicide on November 7, just two days before her 18th birthday.
Under the title of “To lay Serenity to rest” a GoFundMe page with a goal of $15,000 was set up by the Hawley family of Tampa, Florida. Serenity’s stepmother Katherine Hawley is named as the beneficiary of the donation amount.
The GoFundMe page claimed, "The Hawley family is wishing to raise 15k in order to cover the expenses of her funeral and her headstone."
However, the page shot ahead of the desired goal by almost $7,000. Starting two days ago, it accumulated a total of $21,971 with 656 donors having contributed.
The mourners not only donated generously for the funeral expenses of the high school teen but also left tributes in the comment section, where she is being remembered as “a beautiful and sweet person” whose light always shone brightly.
The family has shared that they plan to use some amount from the GoFundMe amount for her funeral, while the rest will be used to set up a scholarship fund in her memory.
How did Serenity Hawley die?
Serenity was purportedly shot dead in a suspected murder-suicide by her ex-boyfriend Croney Monk on November 7.
Just two weeks ago, the high school student sought a no-contact order from Monk, alleging him of harassment and blackmailing.
Serenity’s family shared with 10 News that her former boyfriend, who also attended the same Blacksburg High School as the teenage girl but was her senior, reportedly shot her in her chest before turning the gun on himself and subsequently committing suicide.
Police discovered their dead bodies in Hawley’s car which was garaged in a parking lot of 723 University City Boulevard. This happened while they were responding in reference to a suspicious vehicle at 4.42 pm.
While their identities were not immediately known, Serenity’s father John Hawley, 49, identified the unfortunate teenager.
It has been reported that when Serenity was sitting inside the car, her ex entered the car and shot her before killing himself.
Serenity Hawley’s family is ‘heartbroken’
The family shared that the teenager got accepted into Virginia Tech and was “excited” to join.
Saying that the entire Hawley family is “heartbroken”, Serenity’s father revealed that she was being intimidated by Croney. However, Serenity kept the harassment a secret from the family.
Her father added, “She was getting that full rainbow of experience. We didn’t know that. She didn’t tell us that.”
John Hawley continued, “But we found out today that, yeah, in the hallways he would walk in front of her and make his presence known, and just do different things.”
“He was on social media constantly. He was blackmailing her, telling her he was going to show this and show that. Those are not the types of things that kids need to be doing,” concluded the heartbroken father.
Katherine Hawley, Serenity’s stepmother and the beneficiary of the GoFundMe amount, mourned the teenager’s death and said that there is “a lot of stuff that we found out after the fact that we wish we would have known.”
She continued, “Violence in any form, especially domestic violence, is serious.”
Serenity’s mother Heather Waldron pondered on the heartbreaking incident and remembered her by saying “She was just very vivacious. She was just larger than life. And to know that she is gone is just unreal,” per Channel 10.
She also called the tragedy a “nightmare you can’t wake up from.” Moreover, Waldron said that while the school had issued a no-contact rule for Serenity and Monk, she was trying to encourage her to get a restraining order.
The grieving mother added, “The biggest thing is to watch for red flags. Don’t ignore or think that this wouldn’t happen to your daughter because I would never in a million years thought this would happen to my daughter.”