Amid deaths, mother wonders what went wrong
GRAND RAPIDS -- Renita Norwood wonders what people think about her as a mother.
The lives of her adult daughter and son turned out tragically different from how she had hoped. Two other families are mourning.
Her 20-year-old daughter, Eboni Spight, is in prison for the 2005 murder of 81-year-old Margaret Herrema in a purse-snatching gone awry.
Her 22-year-old son, Laron Spight, is in jail, accused in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend and her unborn child earlier this month. He will be in court Tuesday for a hearing.
She wonders how things turned out this way -- two people dead, her only two children looking at what could amount to lifetimes behind bars -- and wonders if others think she somehow made a colossal parenting mistake.
"I tried to do my best with them," Norwood said.
Coping is tough. For support, she leans on friends and co-workers, those who know her as a caring, hardworking person.
In her job at Hope Network, Norwood helps developmentally disabled adults as a work services instructor. She oversees 13 workers at DECC Corp., where they process protective-coated automotive parts.
But it's her work and the support of co-workers that keeps her going. She loves her job and those she helps.
"They're so proud of themselves. And they are so happy to get a paycheck," Norwood says.
Still, the memories of the violence and loss of the last two years are never far from her mind.
"Yesterday, I had a breakdown at work," she confides. "I couldn't even stop crying."
The last two years have been filled with heartbreak.
It started when her daughter was sentenced to a minimum 28 years in prison on a second-degree murder charge for the death of Herrema, who fell and hit her head on the pavement of a Meijer parking lot as Spight's friend wrestled away the elderly woman's purse. Eboni Spight did not push anyone, but drove the getaway car.
"I was always there for my children, but she got caught up in the wrong crowd," Norwood said. "I was always on her case, telling her 'you weren't raised like that,' when she got into trouble.
"I told her a life was just taken because of your stupidity. I love my kids, but I'm a person that believes in the difference between right and wrong," she said.
At the sentencing for Norwood's daughter, the victim's family noted the senselessness of Herrema's death, but acknowledged pain felt by both families. "There is no joy today on either side of the courtroom," one of Herrema's daughters said.
Norwood's son, Laron Spight, had some minor skirmishes with the law in past years, mostly driving offenses and being a minor in possession. But he began acting strangely a few months ago and Norwood had him placed at Saint Mary's Campus Pine Rest facility for mental treatment in late March.
A judge in early April declared him mentally ill, but allowed his release as long as he attended psychotherapy sessions and took two prescribed medications, including Prozac. He allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, Crystal Michael, on May 7.
Norwood now thinks he should have stayed longer in Pine Rest and believes he ran out of one medication a week or two before allegedly stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death.
Shortly after the stabbing, Michael's family also described being perplexed by the allegations against Laron Spight.
"I got a lot of anger for him," she said. "He was her boyfriend and just snapped. I don't know what happened to him."
Norwood raised her two children as a single mother in Chicago after their father died at 23 from diabetes complications. Her son was 14 months old and her daughter yet to be born when he died.
She moved her family to Grand Rapids in 1993, and admits life was not easy.
She worries what Michael's family thinks of her, but said she loved her son's girlfriend, too, and looked forward to the birth of their baby.
"To me, I lost a daughter and I lost my first grandchild," she said.
Friends and co-workers of Norwood describe her as a strong woman who cares deeply about others.
"We've just been trying to help keep things at work as normal as possible," said her boss, Phil Hernandez. "She's a very compassionate person, very friendly and outgoing.
Before coming to Hope Network five years ago, Norwood was a nursing aide at group homes for 13 years and, before that, was a fire safety officer.
Norwood visited her daughter in prison on Easter and sends her money when she can. She recently talked to her son by phone in jail.
"I'm doing my best. All I can do is pray, but it's hurting like hell," she said.
Send e-mail to the author: jtunison@grpress.com