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‘The sorrow that never goes away’: Mother of Mount Airy man who died in Northeast Philadelphia plane crash describes her grief during remembrance event

Amira Brown's son Steven Dreuitt Jr. was killed Jan. 31 when a medical jet crashed into a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood. Brown's grandson also suffered burns to more than 90% of his body.

Amira Brown holds a photograph of her son Steven Dreuitt at a remembrance event on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at Oxford Presbyterian Church in North Philadelphia. Dreuitt, 37, was killed along with his girlfriend Dominique Goods-Burke in the Jan. 31 plane crash in North Philadelphia. Brown's grandson, 10-year-old Ramesses Raziel Dreuitt Vazquez, was severely burned in the crash.
Amira Brown holds a photograph of her son Steven Dreuitt at a remembrance event on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at Oxford Presbyterian Church in North Philadelphia. Dreuitt, 37, was killed along with his girlfriend Dominique Goods-Burke in the Jan. 31 plane crash in North Philadelphia. Brown's grandson, 10-year-old Ramesses Raziel Dreuitt Vazquez, was severely burned in the crash. Read moreErin Blewett / For The Inquirer

Amira Brown doesn’t feel hope or joy seeing pictures of her son, Steven Dreuitt Jr.

When she seeks solace, she instead turns to the people and things that Dreuitt touched, she told a gathering Saturday in an East Mount Airy church basement ballroom. She thinks of a young girl nicknamed “Precious” — a girl her son mentored and trained to play basketball, and who grew up to be a coach.

“Every time I see her play, that puts a smile on my face,” Brown said. “I know that Steven taught her. Steven did that.”

» READ MORE: The ‘hero’ who saved a 9-year-old boy on fire

Dreuitt was among those killed when a medical jet crashed on Cottman Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia earlier this year. All six people who were aboard the plane — including an 11-year-old girl — died; at least 24 people were injured, and dozens of nearby homes caught fire or were damaged by debris.

“I just keep trying to keep my head up, and I just keep going,” Brown said of the grief. “I just keep pushing.”

Brown retold the events of Jan. 31 before a somber, 50-person crowd at Oxford Presbyterian Church as part of an annual remembrance service for grieving families. She said she had been messaging with her grandson Ramesses Raziel Dreuitt Vazquez on Jan. 31 just before the crash, which occurred a little after 6 p.m.; Dreuitt’s older son was at home waiting for his parents to return, she said.

Dreuitt, 37, was driving his fiancee, Dominique Goods-Burke, and Ramesses, then 9, home from Macy’s when the Learjet medical transport plummeted from the sky, slammed into the ground, and exploded.

» READ MORE: Suit alleges negligence caused the Jan. 31 jet crash in Northeast Philly

The father — a family man who loved playing video games with his sons and cooking at his job at the Philadelphia Catering Co. — died at the scene. Goods-Burke, 34, described by her family as a fierce woman of “confidence, warmth, and creativity,” was hospitalized for months before she died of her injuries. Ramesses suffered serious burns to more than 90% of his body, requiring extensive medical treatment.

Ramesses, now 10, has been transferred from a Boston hospital to one in New Jersey, according to Brown. His mother recently told CBS Philadelphia the boy hopes to be home by Christmas.

While Brown spoke extensively about her pain, she also used the pulpit to recognize and bring light to the nearly 150 lives celebrated at the event, led by funeral director Ervina White Beauford.

“When things happen, people talk,” she said. “But once the talk stops, there’s no one there but us. We all have different stories, but the one thing we all have in common is the pain, the hurt, and the sorrow that never goes away.”