UPDATE: On Saturday, September 2, 2017, detectives from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office announced they have obtained a grand jury indictment for Joevan Joseph (19) on charges of first-degree murder of Makeva Jenkins.
“We’re feeling much better because I know this will help us to know that she’ll be resting in peace because we feel like justice is being done," said Gloria Willis Harold, Jenkins' grandmother.
Harold got the call about Joseph's arrest while on her way to Orlando Saturday to spend Labor Day weekend with family. She said Jenkins planned the family trip a few months ago, but now, she can't be there.
“I miss everything about her. The conversations with her," Harold said. "She just was the kind of person we would never want to go on living without her.”
Harold said the family can finally move toward closure though.
“I am so glad this thing is coming to an end," she said.
The family put out a plea for tips at the beginning of August. Harold said she's not sure if this arrest was the result of that, but either way, she's relieved.
"When this person took her life, he didn’t only take hers. He took our whole family’s," she said.
Joseph will appear in court at 9 a.m. Sunday.
People who live in Jenkins' neighborhood, where the shooting happened, said they are also thankful an arrest has been made.
“When I read the reports and it said that someone had finally been arrested, I guess there was a little sense of ease," said a neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. "I was like, 'It’s about time someone finally got arrested for this.'”
That neighbor said she hopes Joseph's arrest will reveal more information about the case.
"I think it was something a little bit more in depth to the story and I think that eventually it’s all going to trickle down," she said.
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ORIGINAL STORY:
Just before midnight, Makeva Jenkins posted on Facebook talking about how far she had come financially from being homeless in 2013- 2014, to starting her own business and making six figures.
She was talking to people up until 12:30 a.m. One law enforcement expert says detectives will likely reach out to those people during their investigation.
There is no known motive yet as to why a masked suspect would knock on the door of Makeva's Lake Worth home at 2 a.m. and shoot her. Palm Beach County Sheriff's detectives do not believe a Facebook post Jenkins published Thursday night led to her death, but law enforcement expert Andrew Scott believes it may still help the investigation.
"Those leads and the people who are friends and communicated with her prior to her death could develop some very substantial leads for the police in this case," said Scott.
Scott believes detectives can gain information about Jenkins's circle of family and friends, possibly those speaking to her on Facebook before she was killed.
"That would be a wonderful place for investigators to generate leads relative to why would someone want to kill her," said Scott.
Jenkins did reveal a lot of information about herself on her last post, recalling a time where she could not afford a $99 class and saying she is making multi six figures now.
