In the early morning hours of a day before Valentine's Day in 2017, a tragedy unfolded in a St. Louis, Missouri home that claimed the life of six-year-old Mi'Kenzie Bostic. The young female was found with a gunshot wound to her head and died at the scene. At the time of the incident, her mother and her mother's boyfriend were reportedly asleep in the second-floor apartment.
The investigation into Mi'Kenzie's death led to the belief that her nine-year-old sibling had found a gun and accidentally fired the shot that killed her. At the time, there were two other children in the home, aged three and four. The girl's mother, Ebony Jones, who was 27 at the time, and her 31-year-old boyfriend, Jeramee Ramey, were both charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
In April 2018, Ebony Jones pleaded guilty to three counts of child endangerment as part of a plea deal. A judge dismissed the charge of involuntary manslaughter. Jones was sentenced to probation and was also required to attend parenting classes. The case against Jeramee Ramey never went to trial as he was fatally shot later in 2017 following an argument over a dice game.
A family friend described Mi'Kenzie as a 'nice person and sweet little girl' who would run up to her and give her hugs. She was a first-grader at Herzog Elementary School, where a crisis response team was brought in to support students and staff in the wake of the tragedy.
