The mother of a murdered 9-year-old Chicago boy is fighting back against accusations that she used online donations meant for her son’s burial to purchase a new car.

Karla Lee, 26, admitted using the money donated through GoFundMe to buy the car, but said her son would have wanted her to be safe and a car helps, Fox32 reported Saturday.

“Am I afraid for my life? 100 percent I’m afraid for my life,” she told the station.

Following public outrage, Lee said she used her own money that she had saved for months to make the purchase, according to the station.

She also lashed out at her critics in an expletive-filled rant on Instagram.


“This don’t make no sense,” she says in the 60-second video. “I am so tired of ya’ll social media and ya’ll Facebook people bashing me. Ya’ll don’t even know me. I was the best mother I was to my son.”

Her son, Tyshawn Lee, was shot and killed Monday after being lured into an alley on the city’s south side in what police say was an “absolutely hateful” killing motivated by his father’s alleged gang affiliations.

Early Sunday, a makeshift memorial for the boy in the alley was destroyed in a fire, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, according to Fox32.

Firefighters responded to a garage fire about 3 a.m., the Chicago Fire Department said. The memorial, which included several candles, was located next to the garage.

The fire department said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Lee purchased a 2015 Chrysler 200, WLS-TV reported Sunday. Lee told the station she used her own money to make the down payment.

She told the station the trouble started when the dealership where she bought the car posted her purchase on Facebook without her knowledge. The post has been deleted.

More than $17,000 was raised in four days on a GoFundMe page created by a friend of Lee’s to “help Karla lay her son to rest.”

The online fundraiser was closed Sunday morning, DNAChicago reported.

In another bizarre twist, Tyshawn’s father apparently started another GoFundMe page seeking donations for funeral expenses, the website reported. The page was quickly taken down.

“I understand the mother of my son did wrong by that money, but what the news is not telling, that they are only paying for half the cost of everything," Wooh Gotti, an alias used by Tyshawn's dad Pierre Stokes, wrote, according to DNA.”They are blaming us so they don't have to pay the full cost of everything. She is in the wrong for doing what she did with the money for our son, just give me a chance to lay my son to rest the right way."

DNA reported that Stokes’ appeal sought $2,500 and the fundraising page also was selling Tyshawn memorial T-shirts for $25-$45.

A police spokesman told FoxNews.com Friday that Stokes potentially knows who killed his son, but has refused to cooperate with detectives.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/08/mother-murdered-chicago-boy-defends-buying-new-car/?intcmp=hplnws

What a bunch of sickos. Trying to make a profit off their sons death and using the donations to bury their son to buy a car and sell T-Shirts for profit.

I hope they are jailed!

That ratchet goes beyond being a run of the mill hoodbooger.

If she and the boy's daddy know who the killers are...

I hope law enforcement sees fit to charge them as accomplices after the fact.

I mourn the child's senseless death and feel for those bearing the loss of one so young.

This may be wrong of me under the circumstances to bring this up, but thought it rather fitting of the parents, mother anyway, after reading this....

I remember a skit done by a comedian some time ago (either Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor or another black comedian....can't remember) about a TV preacher telling his congregation to send money, that god had told him to buy himself a new Cadillac....

Perhaps god spoke to this boys mother.... lord knows somebody should.... about parenting and caring.

Not knowing anything about her living situation, but from the sound of things guessing she lives in the inner city, perhaps on some kind of assistance, did she save enough to bury her child or will she now expect the state or others to?

Well bunko artists use the web far more effectively than in previous decades when bogus fund raising was done via street corner coffee can collections,and news stories about where to donate money.

People have faked diseases, losing their life savings, have claimed not to have insurance for losses that actually were covered, all manner of sketchy behavior. I think people however just get a little bit more angry when the death of a child is used to scam people. I can only give her the benefit of the doubt, and think she is simply distraught over the loss of her son. Maybe they talked about her getting a new car one day, and she sees this as a promise to him. Who knows.

If she's just playing people to profit off her dead kid, she should be run out of town on a rail. We all know there are scummy people out there, we'd just like to think they have some line they won't cross. Well, surprise!

I'll never understand by the way the 'memorial' t-shirt that people sell of dead kids or family members. Do you really want to see your dead kids face a couple years down the road being used to wash a car? Wiping the grease off a lawnmower? Being sold for a $1 at a garage sale?

Saying her kid would have wanted her to have the car is kinda like the whole Rev. Creflo Dollar scam, saying that God wants him to have a new plane, and can you please donate $10 million brothers and sisters? Flying economy to Africa is NOT what the good Lord intended for me to do....

Put your feet in a bucket of water, put your hands on the back of the TV set, and FEEEEEL the power! Praise Jeebus.

God wants me to have a 2016 Indian chief (motorcycle), fully dressed out, with a kick @ss stereo system.

Send me 20 dollars.

She should of taken her money & everyone else's and gotten the hell out of there , to a safe place with new people & shut the hell up!

That is what her son would of wanted.

its hard to assume what others finances are , and it does take money to pay for a funeral

hopefully the boy is laid to rest without much more drama,,,

Well at least Mom drove to the funeral in a new car...priorities... or lack there of.

its better than one you have to constantly worry about breaking down

im sure many drive to funerals in new cars,, as long as they are handling payments for both, its no sweat to me,,,

Hey, I have no problem driving new cars...who doesn't. but I actually buy them.. with my own money. I don't piggy back it off a terrible family tragedy..or donations of other who intended the money to go to a proper burial of a kid.

That's kind of in very bad taste.. wouldn't you say?... no?.. well I guess I am in the minority then.

I think most others would not have chipped in if they knew it was going to a car.

Do you really think those who donated intended it to be used for a new car?.... would you donate to that cause?.. now come on.. tell me you would...Lol.. Escalade.. anyone?

as I said , I don't know their financial situation

money is money, and whether I have 5 of my own and 7 of another or 7 of anothers and 5 of someone else,, it still means I have 12

and its futile to pinpoint if the four I spend was from my five or their 7,,so I don't play that game, when I don't know anothers financial situation


now if the donations are enough for the price of the funeral, but the cars price IMPEDES the payment of the funeral, that's another story

but if both are paid,, than the goal(alleged goal) of the contributors was met

you don't play that " game" because it was a black woman. Fact is she used donations meant for a totally different reason ( to bury her kid) and brought a nice new car.

Those funds would have not been better served on her remaining kids... their welfare and quality of life?

Nothing like that new car smell... wouldn't you agree.

I didn't read any detail in the op nor did I say anything about her race(not sure the op did either)

so perhaps that's not MY hangup



I don't know her family situation either, and a new car is a very healthy investment for reliable transportation with kids,, I just got one myself and the difference is UNBELIEVABLE from the clunkers I was used to,,,, I KNOW I can safely get my daughter anywhere I need to and no reliance on anyone else,,,,its quite amazing really

I cant imagine the 'quality' of having to wait around on a bus in an area where people are shooting kids? can you?

or worrying about breaking down in some clunker in such a place?

and I don't know what funds were used for what, which was the original point

so If I am donating, to me, it should be out of the goodness of my heart, and if there is some left for something else for that person, Im not the type who is going to consider it sweat off my back
'


,,that's just me, whatever race the recipient is,,,

He son would have wanted justice and cooperation with the police to find his killer or killers. These parents(and I use the term VERY loosely) are bottom feeding lowlifes who are profiting off their own son's death. This is definitely a new low.

She spent the WHOLE thing on the car, nothing for the funeral. That is why the father is now trying to raise money for a funeral.

She is not a suspect. She could of paid for a cremation in advance or upfront & left. And still corporated. * a big funeral is really... just for the press .. in this case & may make her a target *
If she had any real survival instincts she would of left.

I think the boy knows/knew how his parents are ( a 9 yr old is past the age of belief that parents are saints) & would want his mom out of the chaos, drama, limelight & 15 minutes of fame & off of F@c@book . Just as much as he would of wanted bio dad to act like a real man & a father.
But none of that happened. Let's not forget..this boy " was on his way to grandma's house ". It is a shame she (legally) couldn't handle this.

Only the mom had a ONE time only, shot of any kind of normal life.... & she blew it.
She chose a material object & social media for sympathy, & then complains

Her quote:
“I am so tired of ya’ll social media and ya’ll Facebook people bashing me."

Why...is she even on it? Especially now.. ? Putting her whole life & every move out there. If she wanted 'star treatment' , then being criticised is part of it.

Maybe some morning talk show like "Good Morning America " will pay for a trip to New York, buy her a dress & hand her a teddy bear to hold & cry over as a shrink interviews her. And she can go on F@c@book saying, "Hey y'all guess where I'm at? And they have room service ".

Ghetto Fabulous
She can post on F@c@book now how no one cares.
And find something to blame it on.

Good point...when my daughter died, I couldnt focus my mind on tv, a book, radio...anything for a damn long time. I just didnt care.

Btw, dont give money to some gofundme page for people you dont actually know. The community can help with burial expenses. The ones Ive given to are usually set up through a bank...and they handle necessary payments.
Better yet...if youre a parent, be a responsible one and have money set aside at least....a funeral isnt expected, God forbid, but other things are so one should be prepared anyway.... And to be not politically correct...if you cant handle ALL aspects of being a parent...maybe youre better off using a condom.

The Chrysler 200 that she purchased could have waited a little?

SMH