Family speaking out after woman, 18, shot to death in Monroeville

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — It’s been almost a week since Allegheny County investigators found Joselyn Thomas shot dead in Monroeville.

>> Woman, 18, reported missing 2 hours before being found shot to death in Monroeville, police say

Her family tells Channel 11 the last few days have been indescribable.

“Every time she saw you, you would smile because you saw how excited she was to see you,” Carma Jones, Thomas’ cousin, told Channel 11.

Police found Thomas, 18, shot to death inside the Cambridge Square apartment complex in Monroeville after investigators put out a missing person’s report for her hours earlier.

That evening, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Albert Williams III was charged in her death.

>> Suspect’s father speaks to Channel 11 after woman shot to death: ‘I looked at her like a daughter’

“Joselyn wanted to portray that this man loved her, and she loved him. In reality, she loved him, and he did not love her. Anyone who loves Joselyn would not have done this to her,” Jones said.

She can’t help but think about her cousin’s final moments.

“I think about how scared she probably was, and how she tried to fight for her life. I think about what her last thoughts might have been,” Jones said.

Thomas’ family says she was planning to leave for nursing school in Virginia in a few days.

“He did not want her to leave for school. They argued about it relentlessly. He’s like, ‘I’ll find you places to go to school here. I will help you find places to go to school,’  She said, ‘No, I want to go to school,’ and that was her final decision,” Jones said.

Thomas will never get the chance to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse, and police say, that’s because of Williams.

“Jail for the rest of his life. Rot in jail,” Jones said.

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