‘It’s just so hard:’ Mother of victim in late-December double homicide speaks out

By Justin Berger

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WALA) — It’s been more than three weeks since two people were killed in a music studio on New Leicester Highway.

There have been no arrests made.

On Sunday, Jan. 14, Keshaunda Jones, the mother of 20-year-old Marck’ia “Minnie” Jones — one of two victims of the Dec. 22 double homicide — spoke with a News 13 crew, just eight days after burying her daughter.

“I just can’t bear to not see her every day, Lord,” she said. “It’s just so hard, Lord. It is really hard.”

Late on Dec. 22, 2023, Asheville police officers found Chase Van Leeuwen shot and killed inside a music studio in the 300 block of New Leicester Highway.

Half an hour later, police said Minnie was dropped off at Mission Hospital, where she later died.

Her mom told News 13 that Minnie left the house that night intending to do laundry.

Jones said she wants to be her daughter’s voice and that she doesn’t want Minnie to be blamed.

She described her daughter as a godly girl with an old soul.

“She loved everybody and loved to help everybody,” Jones said.

Minnie was an aspiring rapper who wrote and performed her own music, according to her mom.

“When she passed, I went in her room, and I just seen all the goals she had set up to pay for her car and for her brothers and her sister — and it’s just all gone now,” Jones said. “I just don’t know why.”

Jones said she wants to know more about what happened that evening. Questions like, Was her daughter inside or outside the studio? Was she alone? Why was she there?

“She just bought her car, so I was always the transportation for her,” she said. “Bringing her to work and the studio and stuff like that, and this studio was not what I’m familiar with.”

On Jan. 12, 2024, a News 13 crew spoke with Capt. Joe Silberman with the Asheville Police Department. He said investigators were still running down leads and they had a good idea of what happened that evening.

Silberman said he expects to be able to hold one or multiple people accountable.

“I know it’s not going to bring her back and I know it’s not going to stop the pain, but I still need to know,” Jones said.

Minnie leaves behind three siblings and would have celebrated her 21st birthday next week.

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