Mother of Michaela Mabinty DePrince also died within 24 hours of Michaela’s demise

Elaine DePrince, mother of DePrince, passed away less than 24 hours after her 29-year-old daughter’s death. Loved ones are calling it a heartbreaking, yet completely unrelated, coincidence.

On Friday, the DePrince family shared the heartbreaking news of Michaela’s unexpected passing, which occurred on Tuesday. Later, over the weekend, they posted another update, revealing that Elaine had also passed away on Wednesday “during a routine procedure in preparation for a surgery.”

“The last few days have been even more difficult than most people realize because the family has also been dealing with the death of Michaela’s adoptive mother Elaine DePrince,” Jess Volinski, the spokesperson for the DePrince family, issued a statement on social media on Saturday.

Elaine DePrince did not know about her daughter’s death “at the time of her procedure” and the two deaths are “completely unrelated,” Volinski wrote.

“The only way we can make sense of the senseless is that Elaine, who had already lost three children many years ago, was by the grace of God spared the pain of experiencing the loss of a fourth child,” Volinksi wrote. “What the family is going through right now is truly unimaginably painful. Grieving two family members who died within a 24-hour period is tragic and devastating.”

The family asks for privacy as they grieve from their unimaginably painful losses.

Elaine DePrince is the adoptive mother of Michaela Mabinty DePrince. Michaela DePrince grew up alongside 11 siblings, nine of whom were adopted.

Michaela DePrince was born in Sierra Leone during the country’s brutal civil war. Originally named Mabinty Bangura, she lost both her parents at a young age and ended up in an orphanage. Elaine DePrince, who would later become her adoptive mother, had initially planned to adopt one of Michaela’s friends from Africa.

Elaine was asked by the orphanage agency which Mabinty she was adopting as they have two of them.

Elaine DePrince was told that Michaela had been rejected by 12 families because of her vitiligo, and she made the decision to adopt both girls. Later they were renamed Michaela and Mia.