SILVERTON — Clutching tissues and speaking in a shaky voice, DeWayne Howard on Friday thanked the community for its support following the death of his grandson, 9-year-old Diarro Hayes.

        “I know that I have true friends when I need them,” he said. “I really do appreciate everything that everybody's doing. It kept the family together and it takes a little pressure off our minds.”

DeWayne Howard (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        The boy's mother, DeMarlo Hayes, 26, was charged Monday with murder in Diarro's death.

        Police said Diarro was killed in Ms. Hayes' Silverton home last Friday. The body was taken to nearby Daniel Drake Park and set afire under a picnic shelter, police said. The boy's body was found Saturday.

        Mr. Howard, who said he raised Diarro from birth until last August, wore a white T-shirt with a picture of the the boy smiling.

        “We're leaning on each other,” he said of his family.

        Throughout the week, people have raised money for Diarro's burial and several people have called the family, including Angela Leisure and Debbie Culberson, who both lost children in controversial circumstances, said Sam Malone, a Hayes family spokesman.

        Ms. Leisure is the mother of Timothy Thomas, shot by a Cincinnati police officer in April; Ms. Culberson, the mother of Carrie Culberson, a Blanchester woman missing and presumed dead.

        “There is no way for the family to express what the public has been doing,” Mr. Malone said.

        • Diarro's funeral will be today at Faith Temple Church of God, 825 Rockdale Road. The visitation is from 11 a.m to noon. Services will immediately follow.

        • Contributions for the family may be made to the Diarro Hayes Memorial Fund, Huntington National Bank, 7221 Montgomery Road, Silverton, OH 45236.

        • Contributions may also be made at area O'Charley's restaurants. The O'Charley's at 5075 Crookshank Road is holding a car wash today to raise money for the family.
       

Officers honored during rally
Clergy call for boycott of Taste
Racial tension in Cincinnati
Team's tab likely to top taxpayers'
Our city not so hot for singles?
Plot to poison teacher leads to girls' arrests
From school janitor to schoolteacher
Indian Hill school, buses vandalized
Diarro's family is grateful
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
Job fair today for seekers age 14-25
Youth Employment Fair
MCNUTT: Warren County
$100,000 win seen as 'miracle'
Alert cop gets help after stickup
Allegations fly over delayed school funding report
Badin pranksters will be able to graduate
Bill would let legislators avoid suits, hide papers
Blast punctuates '1812 Overture' at Deer Park High
Boone Co. Title IX suit settled
Ex-cop loses manslaughter appeal
Festival to show kids that art 'jams'
First, flood watch; then it rained
Generations share jazz
Glass Ministries asks pro athletes to help spread word
Halfway home may be halted
Horse owners react to illness
Judge rejects claim inmate wasn't killer
Latinos and Amish bring new vitality
News anchor says no to politics
24 sign on as advisers for 12th St. tear-downs
Unions get to advise Gov. Patton
Unlikely teacher shares ways
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report