BATON ROUGE — The family of Maressa Mays wants answers as to what happened during a brief jail stint that ended in her death last month.
"We want justice, and no, she wasn't perfect, but we still want justice. That was our baby," her father said.
Throughout her adult life, the 34-year-old often found herself in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, a pre-trial facility, but her family says she was trying to put all that behind her and be a good mom for her daughter.
"She had a heart of gold. She would just give and give. She loved everybody," her mother, Monica Lafayette, said.
However, that opportunity for change never came.
On July 14, a judge sent Maressa to jail for failing to appear in court on battery charges.
Five days later, she was dead.
"They found her on her back, with her