SAN DIEGO -- A crowd surrounded the group of Aztec dancers on the 7th Avenue sidewalk Sunday evening in downtown San Diego.
It is near the spot where 21-year-old Shauna Haynes of La Mesa was found dead in a suitcase near the trash can behind the Chadwick Hotel last Wednesday. Dozens of friends and co-workers came to remember the young woman with a bright spirit.
Police have arrested her boyfriend, 33-year-old Joshua Palmer, in her murder.
“I don’t want the world to remember her as the woman found here earlier this week,” friend Austin Palser told the crowd. “I want the world to know here as we all knew her.”
Teary-eyed mourners struggle with her death.
“Mostly questions, like, why did this happen? Like, why did this have to happen to such a sweet innocent fun-loving girl?” Palser said.
Palser said he has been a close friend of Haynes since elementary school.
“She was one of those people that makes you feel welcome, even if you weren’t her friend she would give you a giant hug,” Palser said.
Haynes worked at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown.
“We want justice for what was done, for Shauna being taken away from us,” Palser said.
“I just hope justice is served and that she just rests in peace,” friend Gage Miller said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to pay for her funeral.
