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Emelio Rousseau stepped into his mother's house in Rae Town, Kingston, on Monday, expecting warmth in the form of a hug or maybe a meal.

Instead, he found silence. Her voice was gone, replaced by a framed photo on the table and the suffocating quiet of a home that has been turned into a memorial. His mother, Neisha Williams, was stabbed to death in the family yard on Sunday. The accused, her cousin, Rashad Watson, was later shot and killed by police who responded to the incident.

Upon seeing her photo inside the home, Rousseau broke down in tears. His father, Ennis Rousseau, held him tightly. What was meant to be a brief homecoming became a confrontation with devastating loss.

"I lost my best friend," Rousseau told THE STAR. "She was more than a mother to me. We were so close. That was my favourite person."

The Portmore United footballer had been in the US for matches related to his career. The last time he spoke to his mother was on a video call the night before her death.

"She tell me she never like the energy around the shop," he said. "She just wanted the tension to stop. With her heart condition, she avoided conflict. It would stress her."

Their final in-person moment was two weeks earlier when she took him to the airport. Even then, there were warning signs.

"Him [Watson] come up to the car and say him affi kill one a we," Rousseau recalled. "And him really did kill her. That's what hurts the most." According to residents, Watson had been threatening Williams and other relatives for more than five years. Many brushed off the remarks, but the tension escalated in recent days.

Williams, 43, was a small business owner and the mother of two. She was deeply involved in her children's lives and never missed one of Rousseau's Jamaica Premier League games.

"She was always in the stands, rain or sun," said Ennis. "She was proud of him."

Her daughter, Emelia Rousseau, who graduated high school last year, is set to begin readiing for her Bachelor of Science in hospitality and tourism management at the University of Technology, Jamaica. Just last Saturday, Williams paid her daughter's registration fees so she could select her modules.

"She had just stepped out to buy bleach and pick up the baby [her grandson]," Emelia said, still visibly shaken. "Then me hear some woman pass and call her name ... . When I run go cross the road, everybody was screaming. A car was waiting to take her, and when we asked who did it, nobody answered. They just stood and stared."

The horror of Sunday afternoon soon gave way to chaos, followed by sirens. Officers arrived, and shortly after, Watson was dead. Police confirmed that he was shot and killed after reportedly confronting officers. The Independent Commission of Investigations has since launched a probe into the police shooting. Ennis said he had never known Watson to be diagnosed with any mental illness. However, he recalled that after a motor vehicle crash several years ago, Watson had received part of a financial settlement and was awaiting the remainder.

"It get to him head," Ennis said. "And from that, him just troubled."

The usually vibrant stretch of Paradise Street, where both families lived, has been cast into mourning. Friends gathered at the yard on Monday, some sitting quietly, others in tears. One of Williams' childhood friends fainted and had to be taken to hospital. Children cried. Others stood in silence.

"She was everything to me," Rousseau said. "She did everything for us."