9-year-old Joanna Shoulder remembered by family as lively and lovely young lady
A Fort Worth family remembers 9-year-old Joanna Shoulder’s smile and spirit after her father was arrested last week in connection to her death.
Brandon Shoulder, her uncle, described 9-year-old Joanna as a lively girl who was very smart and wanted to become a lawyer when she grew up. “She always smiled and had a beautiful soul,” he said in a conversation with the Star-Telegram.
His niece’s “big old bear hug” is something Brandon Shoulder said he misses the most about her. “It didn’t matter what was going on in your life that day — even in that moment — when you see her face and her smile, you never have a bad day,” the uncle said.
Joanna was an angel, Brandon Shoulder said, and people who met her fell in love with her. “She was shy, but she was lively at the same time. She was still into princesses and tutus, and she loved them.”
“My mama was like the matriarch of our family and Joanna kind of had her spirit,” he said.
9-year-old beaten to death by father, police say
Marquise Anderson, 35, the girl’s biological father allegedly used a cloth belt with a metal buckle to beat Joanna to death in February at a house in Fort Worth, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram. Anderson was arrested on June 24 on suspicion of capital murder.
Anderson initially told police that Joanna had been taking a bath and became lightheaded and that after he left to get water he heard a noise and found Joanna unresponsive. In an interview with detectives, Anderson later admitted that after Joanna wet the bed twice, he physically disciplined her and forced her to soak in a bath, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Anderson told detectives that he struck Joanna five to six times on her buttocks with his hand, then six to seven times with a belt because she smirked, detectives wrote in the affidavit. Joanna died on Feb. 8 at Cook Children’s Medical Center. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office documented extensive blunt force trauma throughout her body, with injuries consistent with impact from a belt-like object.
Joanna died as a result of blunt force injuries and her death was a homicide, according to the medical examiner.
Brandon Shoulder said he had given up hope and thought Anderson was going to “get away with it” before hearing the news of his arrest.
“When I first met him, I felt something different about him,” Brandon Shoulder said. “He was always like that. As a matter of fact, he and my sister broke up because he was a violent dude.”
Message to other families
In today’s world where everybody wants to give people second chances, Brandon Shoulder said, “don’t give them a second chance unless they earn it.”
As a message to other families who may be dealing with domestic violence, Brandon Shoulder urged people to “pay attention to the signs, and if you have any inkling that it’s unsafe, fight tooth and nail to protect your child, your family members or your peace until they get mental help.”
“Everything that happens in life you could take it as a death sentence or a lesson learned,” the uncle said. “As cruel and as foul as it was for my niece to go out the way she did, it was a valuable lesson because, just like I’m talking to you now, hopefully this story can save 10 other kids.”