SARASOTA, Fla. — Four years after the remains of 14-year-old Jabez Spann were found in rural Manatee County, police continue to search for answers to his death.
Spann went missing on Sept. 4, 2017, nearly a year and a half before his skeletal remains were found on Feb. 19, 2019. Police believe the teenager may have witnessed a murder before his disappearance.
Police believe someone in the tight-knit Sarasota community he disappeared from knows what happened to him. There's a $50,000 reward being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
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Spann has been remembered as a great kid with a great heart.
“It’s heart wrecking. It’s still hurting,” said Dana Tillery, Spann’s uncle said, in September 2022. “The years go by that we don’t see him. We really miss him.”
"He was good in school. He was good with other kids,” said Tillery. “It’s not too much more to explain how Jabez was.”
According to the Sarasota Police Department, a witness named Reginald Parker witnessed a murder on Aug. 28, 2017, and said he saw Spann at the scene.
"We are not going to speculate, at this moment, as to the connection to any other crime. This will be handled on its merits alone," former Sarasota Police Deputy Chief Patrick Robinson said at the time. "We'll be going back and basically starting from the beginning scouring our case files to ensure every lead, every tip was followed up on, everything was handled a hundred percent. We are going to run this thing to the end."
According to the department, detectives met with Lucille Tillery, Spann's grandmother, on Nov. 6, and she said that Parker came to her home to say that he witnessed the murder.
Parker reportedly said he saw Jabez Spann and two others coming out of a residence during the incident. He said he heard a gunshot, and Spann yell, "Oh my God. Y'all shot him."
Spann's family remained hopeful after his disappearance that he would be found alive. His remains were found by a man working along a fence line around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, 2019. Police used dental records to confirm it was the teenager. His cause of death has not been released.
Sarasota Police said anyone with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers of Sarasota at 941-366-TIPS. Tips can be anonymous.
