Mother, Cousin Of Murdered 19-Year-Old College Student Graziella Milbain Appeal For Public's Help

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The mother and cousin of a 19-year-old college student who was shot and killed last weekend are appealing for the public's help, saying she had big dreams of one day becoming a dentist.

They are joining Miami-Dade Police as they too are asking for the community's help and they are speaking on camera for the first time, hoping someone will come forward to help homicide detectives.

Jocelyne Henry, the mother of the victim Graziella Milbain who was known as "Grazzee," told CBS4's Peter D'Oench "My daughter was compassionate and she was always helping people. Whoever did this was not a human person."

Henry showed CBS4 a series of photos of her daughter, who she said was enrolled at Miami-Dade College and worked at a nearby Wendy's restaurant in order to help herself while she was in college.

Those dreams were dashed when Milbain's body was discovered with apparent gunshot wounds last Saturday by the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery at N.W. 11th Ave. and 139th St. Miami-Dade Police have released a flyer asking for the community's help.

"I want justice for my daughter," she said. "I want you guys to help find whoever killed my daughter because right now I can't even sleep at night because she died. It's really tough and for me I really need justice."

She said her daughter came to the U.S. from Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake devastated that country.

"I raised my daughter without a father," she said. "I have two other children. There used to be three. Now there are just two."

She also said she wanted it known that her daughter did have a mental illness.

"She has a bipolar disorder," she said.

Milbain's cousin, Noushka Belizaire, said "I would like to say that the lives of everyone matter. My cousin had a mental illness but she was working through it and she was trying to fulfill her dream of working in dentistry as she worked toward becoming a dentist."

"Her life mattered and she should never have been left out by the cemetery in the rain like she never mattered and like she never had a family," she said.

Family members say they have no idea how Milbain would have ended up at the cemetery. They say she had worked at the Wendy's restaurant the night before her body was discovered.

Belizaire said "i would like whoever did this to my little cousin to come forward and if anyone has any information they should share it with detectives so we can take the person who did this thing off the street."

Miami-Dade Police say they do not have any suspects or descriptions of any possible suspects.

Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $3,000.