Promyss Marcelle carries a piece of her son in the shape of a purple-hued brachiosaurus.

Four-year-old Jacobi Sa’fiir Marcelle loved dinosaurs. Now his mother wears a necklace that holds her son’s ashes inside a pendant fashioned after one.

The preschooler was fatally shot by his father on Christmas Eve last year in a domestic violence incident that wounded Promyss and Jacobi’s little sister, 1-year-old Peyton, authorities have said. As the father awaits trial, Promyss Marcelle is determined that her son be remembered.

Jacobi was honored Monday evening during the grand opening of the Baltimore County nonprofit TurnAround’s “Jacobi Center” in Dundalk. The building features a rainbow of wall-to-wall butterflies, the symbol of survivors, surrounding a pterodactyl representing Jacobi.

TurnAround operates four rape crisis, domestic violence and anti-trafficking centers throughout Baltimore County and the city, which have seen an increase in the number of people they served this year.

After helping Promyss and her family cope with the death of Jacobi, TurnAround CEO Amanda Rodriguez and state Sen. Carl Jackson began talking with the 28-year-old mother about how best to honor her son.

“This, right here, is a forever memory,” said Promyss, gesturing to the center’s brick-and-mortar office in Dundalk. “Imagine like a kid come through the door, ‘Mom what’s the Jacobi Center?’ ... It just keeps my son’s name alive.”

Jacobi’s legacy

Jackson, a Baltimore County Democrat, remembers being devastated by the Christmas Day call about Jacobi’s death last year.

He organized a community walk, honored Jacobi in the General Assembly and connected Promyss to TurnAround.

“I reached out to Amanda and just said, ‘[Promyss] really wants to keep her son’s name alive. Is there anything we can do?’” the state senator explained. “And she said, ‘Well, we have this center that we’re working on in Dundalk, maybe we can name it after Jacobi.’”

TurnAround offers survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking a bright, warm place to shower, grab a snack or a nap, and do laundry, as well as legal resources and therapy. They also help clients find housing.

In addition to its new Dundalk location, the nonprofit is opening two other community centers in Baltimore City and Howard County.

What makes the Jacobi Center stand out is its accessibility to children, who are often survivors of intimate violence but may be overlooked, Promyss explained.

“Peyton, my daughter, was also shot inches from her face,” the mother-of-two said.

The center pays homage to brother and sister with shelves stocked with dinosaur toys for kids and Peyton’s Playhouse — complete with a toy kitchen and a framed drawing of both siblings decorated in multicolored scribbles by Peyton.

During Monday’s ribbon cutting, the toddler darted around the center named after her older brother, sometimes giggling and clinging to her mom.

TurnAround serves more clients

Rodriguez has been TurnAround’s CEO since 2019, after serving in the governor’s office and as an assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore County.

She said the nonprofit has seen a 40% increase in the number of domestic violence survivors it’s served in the past fiscal year alone.

Also, from July 2024 through June 2025, the organization served over 11,000 clients across all programs — about a 37% increase since 2022.

Joy Stewart, a Baltimore County Police spokesperson, said the number of sex offense crimes — including rape, sexual assault, incest and more — recorded in the county is down 34% during the same time period, according to police data. She did not clarify how many of those cases were related to domestic violence incidents.

“I think there’s the same amount of violence and we are just out there more ... I don’t think that suddenly there’s less domestic violence or sexual violence,” Rodriguez said.

As of Oct. 4 this year, Baltimore County Police data show there have been 26 homicides recorded — a 63% increase from the 16 homicides during the same period last year.

A number of those have been domestic incidents, including the September deaths of Patricia Watson-Geiger, a Lutherville woman who police say was shot and killed by her ex-husband, Karl Geiger; Kimberly Lechner, a Monkton preschool teacher who police say was stabbed to death by her husband, Anthony Lechner; and 87-year-old Marilyn Levanduski, who was found dead with her husband, 89-year-old Raymond Levanduski, in what police believe was a murder-suicide.

On Saturday, a woman was stabbed outside Towson Town Center in what police said was a domestic incident, leaving her in critical condition.

Rodriguez said she is concerned that the lower number of sexual assault cases recorded does not represent actual change.

“We really haven’t done anything to address [the] root cause, so are people just not reporting?” Rodriguez asked.

How to seek help

Promyss remembers being racked with grief after her son was killed. She said it felt like she had been hit by a bus. But the staff from Turnaround taught her that Jacobi’s murder was not her fault.

“Since the beginning of January, they been in my corner,” said Promyss, tears welling in her eyes.

The anguish that Promyss, Peyton, their family and all domestic violence survivors endure never truly ends, but she thanked TurnAround for teaching her how to regain control of her feelings.

“I learned how to handle my emotions,“ she said. ”I learned how to talk versus keeping it in, because I felt like for a long time nobody understood my pain.”

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but anyone interested in talking with someone can reach out to TurnAround.

The nonprofit’s crisis line is 443-279-0379 and text messages can be sent to 410-498-5956. The Jacobi Center in Dundalk is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. TurnAround’s other offices are located in Towson, Columbia and on Howard Street in Baltimore.