‘Justice for Maddie,’ friends and family cry out at vigil for slain Biloxi teen
Family and friends of Madison Harris, shot in her home Monday and pronounced dead hours later, cried, sang and remembered the 16-year-old who was always quick to console others.
The crowd huddled between the beach and the Biloxi Lighthouse on a chilly Wednesday night for a candlelight vigil.
“She always boosted people up,” said her friend Allison McKenzie. “She never wanted anybody to be sad.”
Earlier Wednesday, three 17-year-olds and two 15-year-olds faced court appearances over Madison’s death. They are charged with capital murder and are being held without bond in the Harrison County jail.
The crowd shouted “Justice for Maddie” during the candlelight vigil but also sang one of Madison’s favorite songs, “Hey There Delilah” and shouted, “Long live Maddie!”
Her great aunt, Stacy Depoe, told the crowd of 75 to 100 people, “She did say, ‘If anything happens to me, I want a party.’ Well, this is her party.”
“She was spunky, outspoken,” Depoe told the Sun Herald before the vigil started. “She loved her music. She loved to cook.”
Depoe teared up when remembering that Madison always fixed her green bean casserole for family meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Madison lived with her father and grandmother on Rustwood Drive in Biloxi, where the teenagers are charged with shooting her. She died later on an operating table.
Her friends said that she had been friends with the three teenage girls charged in the case, including two sisters who were neighbors.
Madison had attended Biloxi High School but at some point opted to be home-schooled through computer courses. She was artistic. She loved to paint and draw.
She wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up, her friends said. She loved the sky and was fascinated by outer space.
“She wanted to go to the moon one day,” said her friend Allison McKenzie.
Her grandmother gave her a telescope for Christmas, her great aunt said.
Her cousin Courtney Atwell said, “As sweet as she was, she was also a handful.”
They enjoyed pranking one another, but Madison often got the best of her cousin, who remembers how frightened she was when she woke up to Madison wearing a scary mask.
Madison also had two little brothers and a little sister.
Like everyone at the vigil, Hannah Depoe still can’t believe her cousin is gone and that she died violently.
“She just had so much to live for,” Hannah said. “She wanted to be be bright in life. She just wanted to do so much.”
Sandy Sanders of Biloxi did not know Madison. She said she felt compelled to come to the vigil. Sanders volunteers at the Harrison County jail, where she ministers to young women.
“I haven’t stopped crying in three days,” she said.
Sanders hopes to bring together young people and youth leaders within the next couple of weeks for prayer and community healing.
“I feel like these girls, the girls and the boys, might have lost hope not having positive influences,” she said, speaking of the teenagers charged in Madison’s death. “I just feel like we’re losing our youth.”
