Loved ones mourn loss of Shantin
Shantin “Tina” Grant will be returning to her Berkshire Avenue home later this week.
Sadly, she won’t be jumping into her mom’s arms or grabbing her favorite baby sister, Shanteea, excitedly kissing her over and over again.
The “middle child” of this family — the seventh of 14 children — will return home quietly to her heartbroken family as the remains of a teenager known for her warm smile, caring heart and sociable personality, who was somehow lost to the streets of Buffalo earlier this month.
Nine days after she was last seen alive, Shantin’s badly decomposed body was found in the early evening on July 11, wrapped in a blanket and stashed underneath a board in the backyard of a vacant house on Koons Avenue. Some children playing in the area made the discovery.
“She was a wonderful child. She was a very sweet person,” said the 16-year-old girl’s mother, Sherron Grant, her eyes welling with tears as she held Shantin’s gray satin gown from her eighth-grade graduation on her lap. “I love my baby. I miss her.”
Sherron Grant last saw her daughter alive at home at about noon on July 2. Shantin called home in the midafternoon that day and talked briefly with a sister. When she didn’t come home that night, Sherron Grant feared the worst.
“I just called her phone, and it would ring, ring, ring, but there was no answer,” she said.
Sherron Grant kept her hope flickering as she canvassed the neighborhood and nearby Bailey Avenue, praying she might spot her daughter walking down the street or out at the corner store. Maybe Shantin had spent the night at her sister’s house, she thought, hoping the always ebullient Shantin could at anytime walk back into the family’s small home.
“She’d come in and always want to give you a hug,” Sherron Grant said. “She’d say ‘I love you’ and give me a hug and a kiss.”
Fourth of July came, but the outfit Shantin was so excited to wear remained at home unworn. That day, Sherron Grant filed a missing person report with Buffalo police.
There was no trace of Shantin for a week.
Police still aren’t sure of the circumstances that led to Shantin’s disappearance and death. The autopsy provided few answers.
The medical examiner reported no outward signs of trauma such as a gunshot wound, stabbing wound, blunt force injury or other evidence of foul play. Further details — such as toxicology test results — are expected from the medical examiner’s office in coming weeks. In the meantime, Shantin’s death is being classified by police as “suspicious” but has yet to be ruled a homicide.
Shantin attended Buffalo’s Academy School 44. She was tagged with the “Miss Sociable” designation at the school this past Valentine’s Day. Last year, Shantin was awarded a certificate of excellence for social studies. Before that, she was a merit roll student at the Harvey Austin School 97, according to certificates her mother kept.
She aspired to be a hairstylist and often performed her handiwork on her siblings.
But even some who were closest to Shantin say she was deprived of a fair shot.
“What really makes me sad is that this young girl never had a chance at a decent life,” said Betty Jean Grant, the Erie County legislator whose husband was Shantin’s uncle.
Although some of Shantin’s older siblings had run-ins with the law, Shantin didn’t, Grant said.
“She was a caring young person who spent a lot of time trying to help her mother raise the younger children in the family,” she said. “The one thing I hope is that this young girl’s death encourages mothers and caregivers to know where their children are all the time.”
Sherron Grant admits that her daughter was permitted to come and go from the home as she pleased.
While Shantin enjoyed an active social life and a lot of boyfriends, Shantin was discriminating in her taste, according to her mother, who explained that if Shantin found out a boyfriend had a criminal record or was involved in nefarious affairs, she would drop him.
Now, her mother is left to seek answers.
“I didn’t think that anything like this would ever happen to her,” she said. “Whoever did this to Tina, I pray to Jesus they be found.”
Sherron Grant is not the only one offering prayers. The Rev. Darius Pridgen, the senior pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church, announced Friday that a $2,000 reward fund would be established for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for Shantin’s death.
Buffalo police are also asking for help from the public. Anyone with information can contact the police tip line at 847-2255.
Services for Shantin are expected to be held Friday in Greater Refuge Temple of Christ, 943 Jefferson Ave.
News Staff Reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report.
