CLEVELAND — After more than seven months since Bedford Police found Breneisha Lightfoot’s body in Cleveland’s Slavic Village, friends of Lightfoot said they’re happy justice is being served.
“The young man got what he deserved,” said Suncere Shakur.
But Shakur said he’s still at a loss for words.
“There's still a void, you know, anytime you lose somebody of that caliber of character and that young lady, it will forever haunt you,” said Shakur.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
On Wednesday, Judge Deena R. Calabrese found Lightfoot’s boyfriend, Michael Roarty-Nugent, guilty of involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and gross abuse against a human corpse.
“It's just a tragedy that it had to end like that, especially like that,” said Shakur.
News 5 first started reporting on this story last July, and that’s when we learned from Bedford Police Deputy Chief Rick Suts that a concerned family member called the police on July 18, asking for a welfare check.
Soon, Bedford Police became concerned, too, when they arrived at the apartment.
Police arrested Roarty-Nugent and later found Lightfoot’s body in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood around East 64th Street and Francis Avenue that following Friday.
Meantime, News 5 discovered court records that show a criminal history that stretches 10 years and includes some charges relating to domestic violence, drugs and weapons.
“It's still very hard to digest, you know, her death is very hard to digest,” said Shakur.
Shakur worked with Lightfoot on an initiative called the Wolfpack Gunshot Response Team to teach kids how to pack gunshot, knife and bomb wounds.
He said her presence is missed, but they carry on in her honor.
“Breneisha, like I said like I said before, was a big part of that. The children loved her here,” said Shakur.
Roarty-Nugent will now serve a total of 23 to 28.5 years at Lorain Correctional Institution.
