Josianne Thomas kneels at the grave of her two eldest children, Joscelyn and Johnny, who were 16 and 14 when they were murdered in the fall of 2015 by Joscelyn's boyfriend. Josianne survived being stabbed more than a dozen times in the same attack. She visits the cemetery weekly, often with her two surviving children, now 4-year-old twins Tiffany and Hailey. "It feels like I should have a calling for something, some reason why I'm still here," Josianne said.
"People forget, and I just don't want them to ever be forgotten," Josianne Thomas said of her two murdered children, Joscelyn Jones, 16, and Johnny Jones III, 14, who were pictured at center in a cabinet at their high school in Toledo, Ohio, as part of a showcase of students who had been killed in acts of domestic violence on March 22, 2016. Both teens were killed by Joscelyn's former boyfriend Devonte Brown in an attack at their home that lasted hours on Aug. 10, 2015. Now, their mother is struggling to make sense of why she survived more than a dozen stab wounds in the same attack. Often she says she feels like she's ready to die now and see her children again. "It's much harder the second year," she said.
Devonte Brown, then 16, is wheeled out of the courtroom after being arranged before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ian English on Oct. 8, 2015, on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, and other charges for stabbing to death his estranged girlfriend and her brother, and injuring their mother Josianne Thomas on Aug. 10, 2015. Brown was certified to stand trial as an adult and entered an Alford Plea, where a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction. Judge English found Brown guilty of two counts of aggravated murder for the slayings, sentencing him to life in prison as well as an additional 22 years for the attempted murder of Thomas. Now 17, Brown is currently the only juvenile in Lucas County serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Josianne struggles with the guilt of having outlived her two eldest children, who were murdered in a brutal attack by her daughter's boyfriend in August, 2015. She and her husband Mike, not pictured, work hard to care for her remaining children, twin girls Hailey, center left, and Tiffany, right, then 3-years-old, often with the help of Josianne’s father David Page, left. Still, Josianne often worries she's not engaging enough with the kids.
Josianne Thomas survived more than a dozen stab wounds, including two to the side of her neck, pictured, in the Aug. 10, 2015, attack by Devonte Brown at her home in Toledo, Ohio. Brown was the former boyfriend of Josianne's 16-year-old daughter Joscelyn, who died as a result of the attack, along with Josianne's son Johnny Jones III, 14.
Mike Thomas, left, helps his wife Josianne clam their daughter Hailey down during a late-night temper tantrum as Hailey and her twin sister Tiffany, both 4, color together at the family's kitchen table. Though the twins were sleeping in bed with Josianne when she was attacked, they were unharmed. Josianne concentrates on doing the best she can for the pair, though she says it's sometimes hard to focus on the girls when she becomes overwhelmed with the weight of the deaths of her two eldest children.
Josianne Thomas talks with her clinical therapist Bonita L. Roberts during a session Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Thomas has been seeing the therapist weekly to help her process the deaths of her two oldest children. Joscelyn, 16, and Johnny Jones III, 14, were murdered in their home in 2015 by Joscelyn's boyfriend. Thomas was attacked as well, surviving more than 12 stab wounds.
Brenda Hendricks, left, Josianne Thomas, center left, the Rev. Johnny Jones, center right, and Tammie Jones, right, pray with other family and friends over the graves of siblings Joscelyn Jones, 16, and Johnny Jones III, 14, in Ottawa Memorial Park in Toledo on Oct. 3, 2016. The two teenagers were murdered in 2015 by Devonte Brown, then 16, who was the ex-boyfriend of Joscelyn. Josianne had organized the gathering to remember her children more than a year after their deaths.
Josianne Thomas, center, tries to help her daughter Hailey, 4, wind down for the night as Hailey’s twin sister Tiffany wakes their father, Mike, up to ask him to head for bed at their home on Sept. 29, 2016. The attack on their family has made sleeping a challenge. The twins still sleep with Josianne and Mike, but Josianne says she often stays up to clean into the early hours of the morning. "I have to be totally exhausted so I don't dream," she said.
Mike Thomas sleeps with his twin 4-year-old daughters, though his wife's side of the bed remains empty, at about 2 a.m. Josianne Thomas was sleeping with her daughters in bed on Aug. 10, 2015, when she was attacked by Devonte Brown, then 16. Brown stabbed Josianne more than a dozen times, murdered her son Johnny Jones III, 14, and assaulted and raped her daughter Joscelyn, 16, in the same attack. Joscelyn later died as a result of her injuries, though the twins were unharmed. Brown in serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the attack Josianne often has trouble sleeping. The twins still sleep with Josianne and Mike, but Josianne says she often stays up into the early hours of the morning. "I have to be totally exhausted so I don't dream," she said.
Josianne Thomas speckles inside the home she and her husband Mike bought about outside of Toledo, Ohio. Josianne was sleeping in bed with her two-year-old twin daughters when she stabbed more than a dozen times by the boyfriend of her eldest daughter, who murdered Josianne's two eldest children in the same attack. After she was released from the hospital Josianne said she knew she couldn't live in their family's North Toledo house anymore. She and Mike moved out of Toledo and are working to rebuild their lives with their two surviving children.
Josianne Thomas lingered after her daughter, Joscelyn Jones, had her story read aloud at the Northwest Ohio Silent Witness Project Unveiling Ceremony in Maumee, Ohio, on Tuesday, October 4, 2016. Sponsored by the Women's Center at Bowling Green State University, the annual event is held to remember the girls and women in Lucas County who have been killed by intimate partners or stalkers in the past decade. Each woman has a silhouette unveiled with a volunteer to read their story aloud. This year Joscelyn, who was 16 at the time of her death, was included among the women. THE BLADE/ KATIE RAUSCH
Josianne Thomas, center, her father David Page, left, and her mother Brenda Hendricks, right, cry together as Josianne's daughter, Joscelyn Jones, has her story read aloud at the Northwest Ohio Silent Witness Project Unveiling Ceremony in Maumee, Ohio, on Oct. 4, 2016. Sponsored by the Women's Center at Bowling Green State University, the annual event is held to remember the girls and women in Lucas County, Ohio, who have been killed by intimate partners or stalkers in the past decade. Each woman has a silhouette unveiled with a volunteer to read their story aloud. This year Joscelyn, who was 16 at the time of her death, was included among them.
Josianne Thomas, left, and her husband Mike Thomas, center, are stoic at the plea agreement hearing for Devonte Brown, 17, right, on June 3, 2016, before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ian English. Brown entered an Alford plea and was found guilty by Judge English of two counts of aggravated murder and one count each of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, and failure to comply with the order of a police officer in the Aug. 10, 2015, attack on Joscelyn Jones, 16, her brother, Johnny Jones III, 14, and their mother, Josianne Thomas, 37. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit to committing a crime, but acknowledges evidence is sufficient for a conviction that could result in a more severe sentence. The court treats an Alford plea as a guilty plea. As part of Brown's plea agreement, two counts of murder and one count of aggravated robbery were dismissed. Judge English sentenced Brown to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Johnny Jones Jr., left, embraces his ex-wife Josianne Thomas during the 17th annual Lucas County Children Services Child Memorial for children killed by violence, abuse or neglect held at the agency’s offices in downtown Toledo, Ohio, on Friday, April 29, 2016.
Josianne Thomas laughs as she and her husband Mike, right, take a break from renovating their new home on Sept. 17, 2016. Josianne and her twin 4-year-old daughters survived the same attack that claimed the lives of her two eldest children, and after Josianne was released from the hospital she never went back to the house where the attack occurred. She and Mike immediately moved out of Toledo to Whitehouse and haven't looked back.
"I trusted him. I took him to the zoo with my kids this time last year. I let him live with my family," Josianne Thomas said of the teenager who dated and then murdered her daughter and teenage son in August of 2015. Thomas, who survived the same attack that claimed the lives of her two eldest children, visits the cemetery weekly. She often speaks directly to her deceased daughter Joscelyn and son Johnny as well. "I just wish you were both still here," she said, "or that I was in heaven with you." Her twin daughters Hailey and Tiffany, pictured, were 3 years old at the time of the attack. As they grow, their memory of the event has faded, along with memories of their slain siblings.