January 2022 4
Daniel Puskas, 19, contemplative free spirit who enjoyed nature, animals
Laurie Anne LoBaito-Puskas referred to her son as “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” after her favorite fable about a nonconformist bird who, on the strength of his resolve, soars to new heights to achieve personal freedom. Like Jonathan, Daniel “Danny” Puskas rose above his circumstances. Born on March 5, 2002, he was only a toddler when Laurie […]
Jerwayne Hunter, 39, ‘gentle giant’ who protected his family
Jerwayne Hunter always had your back — even if you ignored his wise advice. Scared and shoeless, Keisha Smith remembered paging her cousin at 3 a.m. after a particularly brutal fight with her boyfriend one night. Jerwayne had warned Keisha not to date the older man, recognizing that he was a loose cannon. “He’s going […]
Ramonita Jusino, 19: ‘She had all of these plans’
Ramonita Jusino embodied the qualities of a Capricorn: goal-oriented, hardworking and responsible. She identified so closely with her zodiac sign that last year she got a tattoo of the constellation on her upper left arm. Ramonita was focused on earning money so she could knock a couple goals off her list, opening a salon with […]
Police recorded 46 murders in Philadelphia in January; here are the victims’ names
At the Philadelphia Obituary Project, we treat homicide victims as individuals rather than statistics. But we are in crisis. The number of people murdered continues to rise, even during the pandemic. And so every month, we will share this data along with the names of each person in one post. Philadelphia police responded to 46 […]
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Every month, we create a placeholder webpage for each person murdered in Philadelphia. Our hope is to elevate these pages into fully written stories with photos that show who each victim was as a person. Through storytelling, we're shining a light on the human toll of gun violence in Philadelphia.