The 7-year-old Brooklyn girl who was murdered while visiting her mother’s apartment in August can finally rest in peace.
Julia Bates’ death was ruled a murder, but her body was not arrested as her body had been sitting in the mortuary for months – and family members disputed over services.
Her father, Julius Bates, went to identify the child’s remains through photos on Friday with the girl’s grandmother, Yolanda Davies, she told The Post.
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it, it’s her, it’s Julesia,” said Davis. “It was awful yesterday [Friday.] I was so dumbfounded. It was really sad.”
Davis said Julisia’s funeral and waking will take place Monday at John’s Funeral Home in eastern New York.
Family members said mom Navasya Jones – who was questioned by police about the murder in her apartment – would be allowed to mourn her daughter for an hour at the funeral home.
The little girl will be buried in a pink coffin wearing the white dress she chose for the wedding she attended.
Julius Battis said he cried when he saw pictures of her daughter getting to know her with his mother.
When asked if he was crying, he said, “I did.” “And I told her I was sorry for what happened to her.”
Bates said he would tell his two-year-old son Jason, “Everything I loved about her… her name and her face will be the light of my life in every step I take. She will never forget.”
Davis said that she and her son had been in a protracted custody battle with Julisia before her death, and were angry that they had to continue the fight for custody of her remains.
“I had to fight. I fought so hard for it. I didn’t get it but in a way that we won because [her mother] I thought she would take her body and burn it. This did not happen. We won because we got it.”
Julesia’s 17-year-old half-brother – who admitted to hitting her eight times in the face on August 10 – was questioned by investigators.
Hours later, the second-grader began vomiting and lost consciousness, prompting the 35-year-old mother to call 911.
Her body was found lifeless in Jones’ apartment in the Mitchell Homes of New York City.
Julisia died of “strong abdominal trauma,” according to the coroner.
Two days after the murder, a tearful Bates told The Post that he warned the Department of Children’s Services that his daughter was in danger at her mother’s home, but said “no one took me seriously.”
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