One year after student's slaying,
family shares lessons
Jackson State University student Latasha Norman walked out of class a year ago today, and disappeared.
Hundreds of people - family, friends and those who had only heard of her from newspaper headlines - appealed for her safety and information about her whereabouts. But it was too late. Norman's badly decomposed body was discovered about two weeks later in a wooded area of north Jackson.
Since then, her family and the JSU community have tried to cope with her death while remembering the lessons it taught."We're thankful God lent her to us for 20 years," Norman's stepfather, Danny Bolden, said earlier this week from his Greenville home.
"God used Latasha's life to shine the light on domestic violence. He used one to save many. We don't understand God's way, but we've accepted it. It's a bitter cup, but it's part of our healing."
Police have charged Norman's ex-boyfriend, Stanley Cole, with her killing. Investigators say they believe Cole stabbed Norman to death out of jealousy because he was not over the relationship.
Cole, 25, is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 12. His public defender, Matt Eichelberger, has said he will seek to have the trial moved outside Hinds County because of pretrial publicity. Eichelberger would not comment Wednesday on the case.
Cole's mother, Irene Cole, described him as a "good son" and a "hard worker. There's nothing he wouldn't do for anybody," she said. "He's never been in any trouble. Never. Nothing more than a traffic ticket."
A month before Norman was killed, she filed a charge against Cole saying he had hit her in a restaurant parking lot in Pearl."She had broken the relationship off. She was just trying to be nice and give him a ride to pick up his check from the place he worked." "Her boyfriend called her, and apparently (Cole) got mad."
By the time Cole was scheduled to be in court on a simple assault charge, Norman was dead.
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