CINCINNATI -- Pink and white balloons filled the air and Danielle Stallworth dissolved into tears Wednesday night as she said a formal goodbye to her daughter, Kassidy, who will be 15 months old forever.
"She was happy all the time," Stallworth said of the toddler, who died at Cincinnati Children's Hospital on Monday. "Her smile would light up a room any time she was in it. Any time."
Stallworth's family had just attended another funeral when she arrived home to discover that, according to police, babysitting uncle Recardo Woods had backhanded Kassidy and her 3-month-old sister, Korri, hard enough to cause serious brain injuries in both.
Korri came home safely this week, but Kassidy was brain dead by the time Woods was arraigned in court on Monday. Stallworth ended her life support after making a tearful plea to the world: "Watch who y'all bring your babies around. Please, just watch who y'all have around your kids."
At the family's vigil Wednesday, friends and relatives comforted Stallworth and shared fond memories of the toddler, who learned to walk shortly after her first birthday.
"She was a cute little lady," aunt Gertrude Stallworth said. "She loved to dance; she had a smile that would warm your heart."
Danielle said she knew Kassidy was in Heaven, and Gertrude added she wouldn't be alone.
"She is with her grandma," she said. "She loved her granny. … Her grandma wanted her baby."
Woods now faces charges of assaulting and causing "serious physical harm" to the girls, and prosecutors said in court Monday additional charges were likely.