EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Alecia Williams will never forget the night she found out her son had been stabbed 14 times.

It was December 10, 2016.

Jasper Williams, 24, was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition after he was found outside his East Providence home.

“[The doctors] led me to the room where my son was, and he was laying there [hooked up to] machines,” Alecia recalled. “I [thought] I was dreaming.”

Alecia said she remembers the doctors telling her that her son was an organ donor, and that the machines were keeping him alive until she made a decision.

“I remember thinking, ‘If his one life can save multiple lives, then that is OK with me,'” she said tearfully. “It was a purpose that was much bigger than me. Who am I to tell others they can’t live because I don’t have my son?”

Alecia made the difficult decision to take her son off of life support. He died a couple of days later.

Searching for James Stevens

Before Alecia could begin grieving the loss of her son, detectives turned their attention to finding the man who killed him.

“They gave me their word,” she recalled. “They promised me they would find him.”

Despite that promise, Alecia eventually decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I decided that I needed to find James Stevens’ mother,” Alecia said. “His mom met me at the police department and the first thing I did was hand her my son’s obituary.”

Alecia said detectives arrested Stevens in El Paso, Texas the next day.

“They found him across the street from the Mexican border because he was trying to flee the country,” Alecia said.

“I asked her, ‘When was the last time you talked to your son?'” she continued. “She specifically said to me, ‘I spoke to my son yesterday.’ I said, ‘If you talked to your son yesterday, why didn’t you tell the police? You’re protecting your son, and he is a murderer.'”

Stevens was eventually found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to at least 20 years behind bars.

Alecia remembers feeling enraged by the verdict.

“I said to myself, ‘Did the jury pay attention?'” she recalled. “It made no sense to me, but it was something I had to accept.”

But that would change when she received a letter in the mail notifying her that Stevens was up for parole.

“It felt like a smack in the face,” Alecia said. “It felt like it was a punch to my heart.”

Alecia hopped in the car and made the 15-hour drive from her home in North Carolina to Rhode Island over the weekend. She was in the court room Monday when the Rhode Island Parole Board denied Stevens’ request for early release.

Though she’s relieved Stevens will remain behind bars, Alecia said she’s committed to making sure he stays behind bars.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s been seven years, seven days, seven hours or seven months,” Alecia said. “Every time I get a letter that James Stevens is trying to get out, I will be here.”

“He’s not resentful, he’s not sorry and he’s not empathetic,” she continued. “He does not care about what he did or who he’s affected.”

Jasper’s legacy

Alecia said her son’s story didn’t end after his death. His legacy lives on in the lives he’s saved by being an organ donor.

Jasper’s generosity helped saved four lives, though she’s only met one of his organ recipients.

Mark Dupre received Jasper’s donated liver nearly a year after he died. Thankful for his second chance at life, Dupre sent Alecia a thoughtful card in the mail.

From that moment on, Alecia kept in touch with Dupre and his wife.

“We would talk faithfully,” Alecia said.

But Dupre’s second chance at life was cut short when he and his wife were found beaten to death inside their Lincoln home back in January 2021.

When Alecia learned what had happened, she was devastated.

“It really hurt my heart,” Alecia said. “He was the only person that had one of my son’s organs that had actually reached out to me.”

“I was happy that my son was able to save someone’s life, but then that life was taken away brutally as well,” she continued.

Even though Alecia is still mourning the loss of her son and the Dupres to this day, she hopes to one day meet the other three organ recipients. She also hopes her son’s late generosity will inspire others to become an organ donor themselves.