When Jill Dornbush learned her nephew needed a place to live, she didn't hesitate to let him travel from New York to stay with her in her apartment.

It didn't matter that the Davie woman didn't have a close relationship with her nephew, Alex Dornbush. She let him stay for several months in 1993.

"She put me up and helped me out," said Alex Dornbush, 36, of Vancouver Island, Canada. "She'd help out anyone."

Jill Dornbush's nephew on Thursday remembered her as a "kind-hearted" woman whose frequent acts of good will made her a target.