As the pearl white casket with rose gold accents was borne down the steps of St. Peter’s Parish in Dorchester on Saturday, Jassy Correia’s mother followed the pallbearers, wailing in mourning. Behind her, scores of people streamed out of the church as the coffin was loaded into the hearse to be transported to a private burial service.

Many who came to the funeral didn’t know 23-year-old Jassy, who was kidnapped late last month in downtown Boston and found dead days later in Delaware, but some knew the pain her mother was feeling, the pain of losing a child.

Donniel Strong said his daughter was the same age as Jassy when she was murdered two years ago. They never found the killer.

“I’m always attending these,” he said. “When someone gets killed, I try to always attend the funeral. I may not know them, but I’ll still come to the funeral.”

Strong, who lives in Lowell, said the service for Jassy “was sad.” Unlike his daughter’s case, though, there is a suspect in Jassy’s: Louis Coleman, of Providence, R.I., is facing a federal kidnapping charge after police found her body in Delaware – in the trunk of a car that Coleman was driving. She had been the object of an intensive search after she disappeared en route home from the Venu nightclub in downtown Boston.
But having a suspect in custody isn’t reassuring for Dorchester resident Shaquia Bates. The mother of two young children, Bates said the hardest thing for her is knowing that Jassy had a 2-year-old daughter. “A mother should be able to go out and have fun. This shouldn’t happen,” Bates said after the funeral. “Whoever did this, I really hope they rot for this. Nobody deserves this. The baby will never have a mom again.”

Bates didn’t know Jassy Correia in life, but felt she knew her after Saturday’s service, noting comments that “she was always happy, she was always full of life. And she was an excellent mother to her child.”

During the funeral, the family continually thanked attendees for their well wishes and emotional support, Bates said. A GoFundMe campaign for the Correia family has raised more than $145,000.”They need our love,” she added.