FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Keashonna Speight feels like she's failed as a grandmother.
Nearly one year after her grandson Rayon died unexpectedly, Speight said the infant's grave remains without a headstone.
"I feel like I’ve failed my grandson as a grandmother because he still has no stone," Speight said. "My daughter goes there every night and every night she goes there and texts me, 'will my son ever have a headstone?"
The family's tragic story began with much joy.
Rayon Washington was born in February 2022.
"He’s literally the sweetest baby you will ever meet," mother Kariah White said. "He loved everybody. He was just always smiling, happy, always in a good mood, so sweet."
Grandmother Keashonna Speight bonded instantly with her grandson.
"No matter how bad your day was going, you could look at that big old smile, you had no worries whatsoever," Speight said. "I looked forward to rushing home from work just to see him."
The joy turned to shock and then grief when baby Rayon died at three-month-old.
"He was just the perfect perfect baby," Speight said. "I try to think of it as God took him away because he was too perfect for this crazy world."
The family hoped to have Rayon's headstone purchased and in place by February 2023, on what would have been his first birthday.
"I wanted to get it done and over with so we could start the grieving process," Speight said. "I know it was hard for my daughter because it was her first baby and he was just taken so soon."
Speight said a friend recommended a company to do the work. She paid the business owner around $3,500 for a headstone.
"He told me that he ordered the stone and it was coming from China," she said. "He sent me the receipt and the contract that said on the bottom about 120 days."
But Speight said after months of getting the run around from the business owner, the headstone never arrived. She finally requested a full refund.
"At this point, I just want my money," she said. "I know there’s no headstone and you wouldn't hold onto someone's headstone for this long. We’re having a hard enough time grieving and you are making the situation so much worse."
She reached out to CBS 6 after she said the business owner agreed she was owed a refund but never offered one. When asked, he told CBS 6 his business was no longer operating and that he planned to pay Speight back soon.
"I just feel so bad," mother Kariah White said about her son's markerless gravesite. "Everybody's is filled with headstones and my son's is just empty."
If you or someone you know is in a position to help the family purchase a new headstone, please email Joi Fultz.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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