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Mom donates to SAFE House after daughter's death

Posted at 6:54 PM, Aug 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-31 22:15:21-04

Boxes full of dresses, accessories, and shoes. Those are just a few things Makayla Rhiner's mother, Lynn, still has to remember her 22-year-old daughter. 

"There is a memory to every outfit," said Lynn.

So you can imagine how hard it was to give her daughter's stuff to someone else.

"There was a happiness and sadness at the same time," Lynn continued. "A lightness and heaviness. It was a mix of emotions."

But Lynn has no hesitation in giving it all away. Because all the flower dresses and stuffed animals are going to victims of domestic violence -- the same thing that took Makayla's life.

According to police, Makayla was killed by an estranged ex-boyfriend outside her apartment in the southwest part of Las Vegas.

Despite not having Makayla's things anymore, Lynn says her daughter still give her the strength to educate others and to speak up that domestic violence is never OK. 

In all Makayla's family donated seven boxes full of clothing to SAFE House. They say every time they close one of those boxes, it brings them just a little more closure.