More than 200 people attended the funeral of 15-year-old Nioami Lazicki today at Radzieta Funeral Home in Cape May Court House. The viewing began at 1 p.m. and a funeral and private burial was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The service has now ended.
People continue to pour in to pay their respects to the family. Many of the mourners were teenagers. Though some have left, many have remained for the upcoming funeral.
The mourners are dressed mostly in black - and many men have eschewed a jacket in the 90-dgree heat.
Villas resident Cass Crouthamel, a friend of Niaomi's grandparents,said she was heartbroken when she heard the news.
"I was shocked," she said. "The family needs (our support)."
State Sen. Jeff Van Drew stopped to pay his respects.
"As a father, I cannot imagine what the family is going through," he said. "As a human being, all we have is to pour out our hearts and express our love and compassion to them."
Lazicki, 15, was walking home along Bayshore Road with her 14-year-old sister, Farrahanne, and 13-year-old cousin, Ashley Dauber, when Joshua Malmgren, 30, of Lower Township, allegedly e road and killed Lazicki and Dauber, police said.
According to an obituary published Friday by the family, Lazicki loved music, reading and social networking. She was originally born in Philadelphia and was recently accepted into the Cape May County Vo-Tech program, through which she aspired to become a criminal profiler.
In lieu of flowers, her family asks for donations to the “Faith’s Way Memorial Fund” at Cape Bank, Routes 9 and 47 in the Rio Grande section of the township.
Lazicki’s mother, Christina, said she wants the donations to go to constructing a sidewalk along Bayshore Road to make it safer for pedestrians.
Lazicki is also survived by her father, Bill Gaston, siblings William and Shawn Gaston, and grandparents, great-grandmothers, uncles, aunts and many cousins.
The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office did not release any new information on the case Friday. A bail hearing for Malmgren, who attended Middle Township High School, worked at the Wawa in the Villas section of Lower Township and has four children, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday.
There will also be a candlelight vigil for the girls at 8 p.m. Monday on the Wildwood beach at Magnolia Avenue.
The viewing for Dauber is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at Lambie Funeral Home in Philadelphia, where Dauber lived.
In lieu of flowers, the Dauber family asks for donations to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Southeastern Pennsylvania office, 1100 E. Hector St., Suite 440, Conshohocken, PA. 19428.
