Groton — Kim Uzzle walked down the hallway toward the kitchen of her family’s home earlier this week, eyes welling with the tears.

In her right hand, she carried her daughter’s journal, scribbles of a journey through the hopes, dreams, goals and plans of D’Nazia Uzzle, who died at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital early last Saturday morning after an incident in New London in which two other people were stabbed.

“Some of her goals she had written here,” Kim Uzzle said, voice teetering, “were to graduate high school. Get a driving permit. Get grades up. No missing school. Find a hobby. Start painting. I just bought her things to start making rugs that she wanted to sell on Instagram.”

New London police are still investigating how Uzzle died. Capt. Matthew Galante said Tuesday he had no further updates on the investigation. Earlier this week he said he could not release many details for fear of jeopardizing that investigation. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said Tuesday the cause and manner of Uzzle’s death are still pending.

At 3:09 a.m. Saturday, police and emergency medical responders received a report of an unresponsive female at a residence in the area of Jefferson Avenue and Buchanan Road, the Pride Point neighborhood. Uzzle was taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The two stabbing victims ― 40-year-old Erica Cherry and 19-year-old Nshon Cherry, both of New London, were treated for non life-threatening stab wounds at the hospital. Police have not discussed the relationship between Uzzle and the Cherrys.

Uzzle, 17, was a senior at New London High School where they held a “pink out” day Tuesday in which students work pink to remember her. She had played on the girls’ basketball team earlier in her high school career.

Uzzle’s family celebrated her life around the island in the kitchen of their Groton home earlier this week, remembering a young woman who stayed strong amid some turbulence, believing that she sustained the venerable line, “the value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation.”

Uzzle leaves behind her parents, Kim and Charles. She was the third of four siblings, with older brother Dajon, 27, older sister Da’Jah, 21, and younger brother Dakari, 6. She belongs to an extended family that has excelled in athletics, most notably cousin Jada Lucas, who has been part of state championship girls’ basketball teams as an all-state player and assistant coach at New London High.

“My sister was beautiful,” Da’Jah Uzzle said. “Anyone who knew her knew exactly just how silly she was. I think about her making a joke or making funny faces and noises. But when it came to family and friends, that’s the only thing she didn't play about. She didn't care if people were talking about her. It was family that she cared about the most.”

Da’Jah Uzzle played on the same basketball team as her sister once at New London High. She spent part of Monday writing in her journal what her sister meant to the family.

“My sister loved music and going for long car rides, specifically the beach and going to see the sunset,” Da’Jah Uzzle read aloud to the family. “She would always ask me to go for a drive. I look back and I'm kind of sad that I wouldn't always go. But I’ll never forget when me, Jada and my sister would go to the water. I’ve only seen a shooting star twice in my life. Both with my sister.

“She was dealing with a lot mentally for the last couple of years. But when she was around the right people and around the right love, you could always see her light. She was always still herself.”

The family’s stories frequently referred to D’Nazia Uzzle’s sense of humor.

“She was a beautiful, goofy girl. Very smart. She was very loving, caring. She loved us all. She was going to have her 18th birthday next month,” Kim Uzzle said. “She would just pull my toe to crack the knuckle. She was forever grabbing my behind and smacking it. A funny little girl. I can't wrap my mind around so many things right now because it's all over the place.”

Her father, Charles, said his daughter was “passionate. extremely passionate. She loved hard.”

Their remembrances were also quite candid, reflecting a funny, insightful young woman who battled many of the issues facing 17-year-olds.

“She had a wall up. I can't say she was the happiest girl because there were some things she was going through,” Kim Uzzle said. “I spoke to (New London High School Multi Magnet principal) Bryan Mahon (Monday) morning. He's the best. He was there for Nay when she didn't want to go to school anymore. He and Nay had a meeting at some point and it really helped her. Without him, Nay wouldn’t have been able to get through some things. And he was proud of her. You know, it's not easy to think of the things she was battling, but she stayed strong.”

Kim Uzzle said her daughter’s challenges strengthened their relationship. And while the family struggles to unearth more details about D’Nazia Uzzle’s death, the unanswered questions still don’t compare to the abject sorrow of such a promising life taken at 17.

“Things that made her happy,” Kim Uzzle said, reading from her daughter’s journal again. “Saying ‘yes’ to someone. Helping someone in need. Giving someone her time. That’s who she was. We were getting through it. She was so strong. I was so proud of her.”

Staff Writer Greg Smith contributed to this report

m.dimauro@theday.com