A woman from Stuart once organized a fundraiser for the man from Jupiter who is accused of killing her, and volunteered at the kangaroo sanctuary he owner, according to her mother.
Perrin Damron, 23, set up a Go Fund Me page for Eric Westergard in 2018 to help him rebuild enclosures for kangaroos he kept on his property in Jupiter Farms.
Today, Westergard is behind bars and charged with killing Damron.
Investigators have described them as "family friends" and say Westergard was the last person to see Damron alive last Friday.
Before his arrest, Westergard was known for keeping kangaroos and other wild animals. In 2018, one of his kangaroos escaped, launching a community-wide search. Westergard faced several charges relating to the way he was keeping the animals and had to enhance their enclosures before he could get them back.
"We passed!" Damron wrote on the Go Fund Me page, showing pictures of an inspection at Westergard's property.
The fundraising page raised more than $2,000 for Westergard.
Now, Damron's family is starting a new fundraiser for the two-year-old son she leaves behind.
"My beautiful angel Perrin Damron was called to heaven way too soon," Tammie Damron, Perrin's mother wrote.
Police have not explained a possible motive for the murder or said why Perrin Damron was with Westergard over the weekend.
"He was a trusted friend of the family so her being with him wasn't suspicious," Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said.
Court records show Westergard filed a lawsuit in 2019 against a woman whose name and address match those of Perrin Damron's mother. The lawsuit states Westergard was a passenger in her car when she crashed, causing him injuries.
Sheriff Snyder said Westergard was "mostly a friend of [Perrin's] mother."
Westergard does not have any other serious criminal history, according to court records in Palm Beach County.