Phenix City community gathers to mourn ‘princess’ Kamarie Holland: ‘Let God strengthen you’
Pastor T. Brian Hill said he wished he could tell his listeners a brighter future lies ahead.
But he could not.
“I’m here to tell you that truly you must prepare your children for the days that are to come,” he told those packed Wednesday into the chapel of Phenix City’s Taylor Funeral Home for slain 5-year-old Kamarie Holland’s memorial service.
“I wish I could stand here and tell you that the world is going to get better,” he continued, “but I’m here to tell you that it’s not.”
Born Nov. 23, 2016, Kamarie’s life was cut short soon after her fifth birthday. Reportedly kidnapped from her mother’s home on Bowman Street in Columbus, she was found asphyxiated and sexually assaulted Dec. 13 in a vacant house on Phenix City’s 15th Avenue.
The vacant house is where suspect Jeremy Tremaine Williams once lived, authorities said. Williams, 37, is charged with capital murder in Kamarie’s homicide.
Hill said Wednesday that he just turned 65, and people his age may remember better times:
“For us who’ve been around, we can remember a time when the world wasn’t like it is today, and we can honestly say that things have just gotten worse, and worse, and worse.”
He does not want to imagine what the future holds, he said: “So what does that mean? That means we have to get serious about our children like never before.”
‘Show love, even in the face of evil’
The precise circumstances of Kamarie’s disappearance remain unclear, with investigators in Russell County under a judge’s gag order that prohibits their disclosing what they have learned.
Kamarie’s mother, identified in the child’s obituary as Kristy Marie Siple, told police Kamarie was asleep when she went to bed around midnight Dec. 12, and the little girl was gone when she awoke about 5:50 a.m. the next day.
Those who know the mother said she was not at Wednesday’s service, where the speakers often addressed Kamarie’s father, Corey Maurice Holland, encouraging him to remain strong, especially for his young son, Corey Maurice Holland II.
“You as a father must rise to the occasion and let God strengthen you,” said one. “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.”
A cousin, Adrienne Davis, thanked the community for coming together to support the Hollands, bringing food, gifts and encouragement.
Hill said that is the compassion all are called to offer, in these times.
“Even in the midst of our tears, even in the midst of our hurt and our pain, even in the midst of all of the heartache that we are enduring right now, it is important for us to do as this community has done,” he said. “That is, to show love, even in the face of evil.”
Calling Kamarie “Princess,” Hill said the little girl had a wide grin that everyone will remember: “Princess always had a smile on her face, the biggest smile you could ever imagine.”
Said her obituary: “She was always happy and smiling. Talking, singing, dancing, and recording videos were some of her most favorite hobbies. Everyone who knows Kamarie knows her to be a genuinely loving kid.... Kamarie’s father affectionately called her his ‘little princess.’ That’s exactly who she identified herself as, ‘A Princess.’”
To the cemetery
As the memorial service ended, a long line of cars escorted by Phenix City police and sheriff’s deputies headed seven miles south down U.S. 431 to Sunset Memorial Gardens for the graveside service.
Almost all the motorists passing the procession either pulled over or stopped on the highway in respect.
Among those attending were Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Chancey, the prosecutor in Williams’ case, and Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor, who has expressed his outrage at the brutality of Kamarie’s slaying, and pledged to pursue anyone else involved.
As Taylor bid farewell to the father Wednesday at the graveside, the two tightly embraced.
Before the family posed for a group photo, friends brought Corey Holland and his little boy white doves to hold, and the birds swooped low and flew off as the father and son together released them.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 4:52 PM.