Detroit Mom Gifted New Home After 2 of Her 4 Children Die in Freezing Van

Mar. 15, 2025

A motherwhose two young children died last monthafter her family sought shelter in their van in Detroit will now be living in a new home with her surviving kids.

Last week, thecity of Detroitand theDetroit Rescues Ministries(DRMM) shared video footage of the children’s mother, Tateona Williams, 29, being presented with the keys to her family’s new residence. It comes just weeks after Williams lost her two children, son Darnell Currie Jr., 9, and daughter A’millah Currie, 2, who died of apparent hypothermia as the family were trying to keep warm while spending the night in a van at a casino parking garage amid frigid temperatures.

“The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries has stepped in to provide a home for a young mother who tragically lost her two children to hypothermia while facing homelessness,” the organization wrote in a Thursday, Feb. 27, Facebook post.

“We extend our deepest gratitude to DRMM leadership for preparing this home with fresh paint, new furniture, appliances and food to support her healing journey,” the group continued.

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The footage also showed the inside of Williams’ new home with its refrigerator and cupboards being stocked with food. A bed for one of the children can be seen with toys on top of it. Williams and officials from the DRMM and the city were also seen blessing the home.

“I love the house. I think it’s wonderful,” Williams told CBS affiliateWWJ. “It actually means a lot. It’s a lot I’m going through right now, so this makes me happy because I was sad today. I have been having a rough day all day today.”

As WWJ and NBC affiliateWDIVreported, the family will be staying at the new home for free for one year, with Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries officials making check-ins and assisting Williams on a long-term housing plan.

“DRMM will step in to help if she struggles — but we expect responsibility and accountability to build toward her independence,” said the organization, perNBC News.

The new home represents a new step forward for Williams and her family following the Feb. 10 tragedy that made national headlines.

Williams, who was then unhoused and previously unsuccessful in getting housing help from city officials,told PEOPLEthat the parking garage at the Hollywood Casino was somewhere the family “normally” went at night “because it’s safe.”

She said at the time she kept “the heat on for them” due to the cold weather — police have said temperatures were below 32 degrees at the time — but at some point that night, her car stopped running, which she “didn’t notice” until the morning.

“When she awakened, the battery was dead also because the key had been turned forward all night. So the car ran out of gas,” says Detroit Board of Police Commissioner Tamara Liberty Smith, who is also the director of Detroit Power Detroit Community Outreach, a transitional housing serviceWilliams was referred to.

Smith said that when Williams went to get the kids ready for school on Feb. 10, she couldn’t get Darnell Jr. to wake up. “He was already deceased. She didn’t know,” said Smith. “So she turned him over and saw that after checking him repeatedly and calling his name and asking him to wake up.”

But when she saw “stuff coming out of his mouth,” Williams said she “rushed him to the hospital” with the help of a family friend, who was already at the parking garage to help with their vehicle.

Williams told PEOPLE that her mother, Yvette Goodman, 48, who initially stayed behind, then realized A’millah wasn’t breathing and the friend returned to take them to the hospital as well.

“I didn’t even know my 2-year-old was going through something because I was at the hospital with my son,” added Williams.

At the hospital, both children were pronounced deceased. Although police had previously said that it appears the children died due to “exposure to hypothermia,” the Wayne County Medical Examiner said in a statement shared with PEOPLE on Feb. 20that the final determination could take several months.

“I just want everybody to know I love them,” Williams told PEOPLE about Darnell Jr. and A’millah in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Chad Audi, president and CEO of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, said that upon hearing about Williams’ situation, his organization wanted to take action.

“We prepared this house that we own at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries,” he told WWJ. “We had to fix it, prep it, furnish it and then give them a good start so they don’t have to go one day without food or being outside at all anymore.”

PEOPLE reached out to Williams and the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries for comment on Monday, Mar. 3.

source: people.com