Family and friends gathered Thursday to remember a White Plains mother whose life was tragically cut short one year ago.

Connie Russo Carriero was brutally stabbed to death in the Galleria Mall parking garage. The man currently on trial for her murder told police he killed Carriero because she was white. However, her family and friends gathered at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, where Carriero worshipped, to remember her life. A tree was planted and adorned with bows containing a short poem. The tree will bloom every June and Carriero?s sons say it will show how her spirit lives on.

A few hours after the memorial Mass, Carriero's family was back at the courthouse for the trial of Phillip Grant, the man accused of killing Connie Russo Carriero. Grant?s attorney tried to poke holes in the DNA evidence brought out in the case. The defense is arguing another person may have been at the scene.

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