'My sister was days away from graduating, then I got a call about an emergency'
For the first time, sister of British nursing student, Tamilore Odunsi is speaking out after the 23 year old was brutally killed in her Houston flat - her younger sister, Georgina shares the heartbreak.
Elizabeth Tamilore Odunsi was excitedly counting down the days to graduation day. The 23-year-old was so close to becoming the nurse she dreamed of being, and she had a holiday booked for after the ceremony.
But instead it was her sister who walked on to the graduation stage to accept her nursing degree. Because just two weeks earlier, Elizabeth – known as Tamilore – had been murdered, and her flatmate charged with stabbing her to death in their apartment.
Georgina says of the graduation day: 'I was collecting this for my sister, but then in the back of my head I'm thinking about the fact that it should have been her. I couldn't even keep a brave face on stage while I was doing that.'
To Tamilore, nursing was more than a career – it was a calling. Georgina says: 'From a young age, Tami really liked children. She had such a strong bond with caring for kids, looking after them. She was a very selfless person. She just wanted to care for people that were less abled.'
Tamilore, from London, was born in the US and moved back there aged 17 to study. 'She saw an opportunity and she took it immediately,' Georgina says. 'She was a go-getter.'
The trainee nurse had built up tens of thousands of TikTok followers by sharing study tips, motivation and nursing advice. In her final TikTok, she beams with pride and excitement as a caption declares: '23 years old. BSN grad in 2 weeks. Vacations booked. Summer is 14 days away. Starting to look human again.'
But five days later, on April 26, police called to her apartment in Houston, Texas, to do a welfare check found her body on the kitchen floor. Back in London, Georgina was out with a friend when her older brother rang to tell her to come home because of a family emergency.
It took six hours before the family were finally told Tamilore had died. Georgina recalls: 'It was like a dream state for me.'
Tamilore's flatmate, fellow student Chester Lamar Grant, 40, was charged with her murder. A judge in a US probable cause court said the two were in a fight over Grant's cat.
According to US reports, it came out in court that Grant had been arrested and convicted several times in Washington state for domestic violence, and for violating a protective order in 2023.
Tamilore's accommodation provider told US media it carried out checks before Grant moved in, adding: 'We are deeply saddened and disturbed... It seems like senseless violence took the life of a young woman.'
Georgina is speaking out in the hope that her sister's death will spark conversations around the safety of women, especially Black women, and the lack of visibility stories like Tamilore's receive.
She says: 'I want there to be more protection for us, more safeguarding for us, because I feel like that's the burden. I feel like, as a community, especially the Black community, we need to protect our women and girls much more. I feel like not enough is being done.'
Her aim now is to keep Tamilore's memory and legacy alive by continuing to to help people, as Tamilore did, through TikTok.
She says: 'Now that we've put my sister to rest, I don't want her name to pass. I might not execute it the same way, but I want her name to continue helping people.'
Meanwhile, prayer is keeping the Odunsi family together. Georgina says: 'We're not happy about what's happened but you can't question God. She's with him now – and one day we'll go and meet her too.'
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