FL - Tony Youmans, 12, Jacksonville, 29 July 2007

[dale46]

I watched a video and the family was moving out even after them finding the son.
It just seems strange that they would be moving in the middle of so much shock and grief.
I know moving would be the last thing on my mind unless I had a good reason to fear for my life.
The son is dead and yet their fear is still there.

 

[Truthful Lies]

I watched a video and the family was moving out even after them finding the son.
It just seems strange that they would be moving in the middle of so much shock and grief.
I know moving would be the last thing on my mind unless I had a good reason to fear for my life.
The son is dead and yet their fear is still there.

Dale,

I thought the same thing...I'm sure others are wondering about it as well.

 

[kgeaux]

What about the swelling described? What about the father saying that the body wasnt' where it was found?

If the child had trusted his parents with his fear he'd probably be alive now.

The swelling would be perfectly normal in a body that had been decomposing for awhile.....did you ever see the videos taken of all the bodies at Jim Jone's compound in Ghana? They were bloated and swollen, too. It's just one of the ugly facts of what happens to a body that is laying out in the elements.

As for the body not being there, it is unfortunate but true that bodies can be missed. I know the dad wants to believe that he searched so carefully that he could not have missed Tony's body. But many, many people searched for Chandra Levy and walked right on by her body. It just happens sometimes.

As to not trusting the parents, that would be very sad. IF Tony saw something and went to everyone except his parents for help, that would raise more questions for me. My "feeling" is that the story of needing the gun for protection could have been a ruse.....nobody would give a gun to a child who said "I want to kill myself." but some nut job might help a kid who convinced them he was in danger.

I know my questions aren't always of the comfortable variety. But sometimes they need to be asked.

 

[kgeaux]

Police say boy was fatally shot

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080107/met_188358905.shtml

Sure sounds like the police are thinking suicide or accidental (maybe Glover's stepson got ahold of the gun and the boys were out playing with it?)

At a 6 p.m. news briefing Assistant Chief Rick Graham said the medical examiner is still investigating the circumstances and cannot yet rule this accidental, intentional or some manner of homicide.

He did say police do not believe the boy's death was a random act of violence. He added that no one is at large who would be a threat. Graham said he couldn't explain further.

The parents aren't taking this news too well:

At a candlelight vigil Wednesday night that attracted several hundred supporters, Tony's parents Kelly Kidd and Mike Youmans said there's no way they believe their son's death was an accident and they're expecting police to hold someone responsible.

 

[sherri79]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=88252
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Tony Youmans' mother Kelly Kidd moved the furniture and toys out of her little boys room, but it is still full of memories.

"He had so much to offer life and so much motivation," said Kidd. "This is sick and whoever did it is sick."

Kidd and Tony's father Michael are dealing with their grief.

Anxiously waiting for updates on the investigation into their son's death, they are moving out of their apartment to leave a neighborhood they never thought was safe.

 

[sherri79]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=88178
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A large crowd of friends, family and neighbors gathered all day Tuesday in front of the apartment where 12-year-old Tony Youmans lived.

All were waiting for news about their friend after the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office discovered a body in a field just a few blocks away.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Tony's mother Kelly Kidd said she learned from police the body had the same clothing as to what her son wore when he disappeared.

The news was especially hard on some of Tony's young friends in the neighborhood.

One of Tony's closest playmates was his half brother Michael.

"I didn't think it was true, Tony's a good kid," said the boy.
=========
more @ link.

this is a story from a few days ago. his friends speak about him at the time his body is found.

 

[BethInAK]

My "feeling" is that the story of needing the gun for protection could have been a ruse.....nobody would give a gun to a child who said "I want to kill myself." but some nut job might help a kid who convinced them he was in danger.

Thats a very, very good point.

 

[sherri79]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/13807799/detail.html
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local group said it hopes a reward will help in the search for answers after a boy is shot and killed, while family members of the man police have linked to the case made a heartfelt plea on his behalf.

The past week has been tear-filled for the family and friends of 12-year-old Tony Youmans. The boy was missing for two days before his body was found in a wooded area less than a mile from his Westside home.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Tony died of a single gunshot wound. The sheriff's office also announced the arrest of 23-year-old Derrick Glover, who they said is somehow linked to Tony's case
==========
more @ link.

 

[CaliKid]

What a sad situation if this little boy felt he had no choice but suicide as a way out of his problems.

 

[MeoW333]

When he left his house, did Tony bring a skateboard or any sports equipment if he was going to skate and play with a friend? If they were going skateboarding, it's likely he owned his own skateboard. If he did bring anything, where his toys found anywhere?
I still can't wrap my mind around the thought of a 12 year old child committing suicide.
My prayers for his family, maybe they figure the sooner they move, the farther they can get from the grief.. =(

 

[sherri79]

http://www.cbs47.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=0bcc9499-6009-4e13-9189-a5fd2adf4f46

The body of 12-year-old Tony Youmans was discovered in some woods Tuesday, not far from where he was last seen two days before. Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for the Youmans family, and the New Black Panther Party says that support is more than any family of an African American victim, like 80-year-old Isaac Singletary, who was shot and killed earlier this year, has ever received.

 

[sherri79]

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080407/met_188955613.shtml

The Jacksonville store manager told the Times-Union on Friday that she believes she talked to 12-year-old Tony Youmans at her Kangaroo Express about 24 hours before searchers found the missing boy's body in a wooded lot two blocks from his home. The lot is a mile and a half from the store.
The boy's mother had reported him missing Sunday night.
Crum said Friday she believes surveillance cameras at her business at Cassat Avenue and Park Street may have recorded images of Youmans with another child pumping up a bicycle tire.
The 61-year-old said the boy she believes to be Tony asked her to turn on the store's air pump so he and his friend could inflate a bicycle tire, but she told him it cost 75 cents. She then watched him cautiously approach two men in a silver foreign-made convertible car and borrow the change before he and the slightly taller, older looking boy used the air pump on one of their bikes.
The whole time, the redheaded boy kept looking around like he was scared or maybe on drugs, Crum said.
When the manager got to work Tuesday morning, there was a "MISSING CHILD" poster taped to her store's door. "I was so upset when I saw that picture. ... If I'd seen it that morning," she said, speaking of the encounter Monday, "I would have put the kid in the store and locked the door."

 

[Taximom]

I'm assuming she must have thought the people in the silver car were related to the boy or she would have done something to keep him from "cautiously" approaching them. Now I have to wonder if those men had anything to do with it.

ARGH. This poor family.

 

[BethInAK]

About moving: maybe its very difficult to be in the house where the child was right now.

 

[BethInAK]

I'm assuming she must have thought the people in the silver car were related to the boy or she would have done something to keep him from "cautiously" approaching them. Now I have to wonder if those men had anything to do with it.

ARGH. This poor family.

I got the impression that his caution and obviously fearful behavior were the concerning thing, not the silver car.

 

[Taximom]

I got the impression that his caution and obviously fearful behavior were the concerning thing, not the silver car.

Hi, BethInAk. That's what I meant to emphasize as well by quoting "cautiously". There's so many times I've stepped in when I thought children were acting strange or afraid of something. I wish she had thought to do the same, or given them the air for free! I'm not blaming her at all. Just my thoughts.

 

[BethInAK]

Hi, BethInAk. That's what I meant to emphasize as well by quoting "cautiously". There's so many times I've stepped in when I thought children were acting strange or afraid of something. I wish she had thought to do the same, or given them the air for free! I'm not blaming her at all. Just my thoughts.

i personally think the silver car is unrelated.

I think the child either witnessed something that could get him hurt, or had some sort of psychotic break (he's the right age, you know) and was delusional and killed himself. Somehow, the first option seems more likely.

 

[sherri79]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080907/met_189907574.shtml

Jacksonville police arrested 23-year-old Derrick Glover on July 31, hours after recovering the boy's body in a wooded lot two blocks from home and two days after his mother reported him missing.
Police charged Glover with giving a gun to a minor. The lot where they recovered Tony's body is in front of the apartment complex where Glover lives with the mother of Tony's best friend.
Glover told the Times-Union that, before his arrest, someone confessed to him that he gave the boy the gun and a third person killed Tony accidentally while a group of people were playing with the weapon in the woods. The newspaper isn't identifying the two people Glover implicated because police haven't charged them with any crimes.

 

[kgeaux]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080907/met_189907574.shtml

Jacksonville police arrested 23-year-old Derrick Glover on July 31, hours after recovering the boy's body in a wooded lot two blocks from home and two days after his mother reported him missing.
Police charged Glover with giving a gun to a minor. The lot where they recovered Tony's body is in front of the apartment complex where Glover lives with the mother of Tony's best friend.
Glover told the Times-Union that, before his arrest, someone confessed to him that he gave the boy the gun and a third person killed Tony accidentally while a group of people were playing with the weapon in the woods. The newspaper isn't identifying the two people Glover implicated because police haven't charged them with any crimes.

Oh, Geez. It's going to turn out to be Glover's stepson and Tony playing with a gun, and Tony gets accidentally shot and killed.

One thing I was reminded of this week: You do not necessarily have to HAND a gun to a minor to be charged with "supplying" the gun. Leaving the gun in a place where the minor could reasonably be expected to get to it can be "supplying." IOW, It's possible that Glover's stepson took the gun without Glover's permission.

 

[CaliKid]

This story just doesn't make sense. How old is Glover's stepson? Tony was 12, and Glover is 23. If the stepson is approximately the same age as Tony, that would mean his stepfather (Glover) is only 9-13 years older than him.