a nonprofit organization for children's rights

From the Boca Raton News

So much to give, too young too die

South County families recall loved ones' tragic deaths' during National Victims' Rights Week

April 9, 2003

by Kelli Kennedy

Wes and Tina Jones attended a candlelight vigil in West Palm Beach Tuesday night to remember their son, Adam, who was brutally beaten to death in Boca Raton.
Although Adam has been dead for three years, Tina Jones said this is the first year she has felt strong enough to deal with the emotional service held to memorialize thousands of victims in Palm Beach County as part of National Victims’ Rights Week.
“This week is a time to pay tribute to victims and their families and also to the professionals and volunteers who provide support,” said Attorney General Charlie Crist. “We must continue to reinforce the promises of respectful and judicious treatment for all victims of crimes.”
The U.S. Department of Justice says the number of children who are abused, neglected and endangered has nearly doubled every year since 1986. In Palm Beach County alone, 30,261 maltreatment cases involving children have been reported.
Five local families chose to share the stories of their children’s deaths this week, hoping to bring justice and, in some cases, closure to these tragic cases.
Many of the grieving parents said they felt a need to become a voice for their children whose own voices were silenced at the hands of merciless killers.

ADAM JONES

“I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t miss him,” Tina Jones sighed. “He always had a twinkle and a smile. I used to call him my joy.”
On the night he died, Feb. 26, 2000, Adam Jones was leaving a raucous birthday party in the Lake Rogers Isle neighborhood south of Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton.
Police say a fight broke out, and Jones was knocked to the ground, beaten and kicked unconscious by as many as six young men. The assault took place in front of dozens of teenagers.
Adam died at Boca Raton Community Hospital of severe head injuries.
To date, Derrick Acklin, 20, of Boca Raton is the only person to be arrested in connection with the beating. He was convicted of felony beating and assault last year. No one has been charged with murder, said Tina, a fact that she continues to struggle with.
“It doesn’t seem fair that the four other boys who participated in the beating were able to walk away scot-free,” said the victim’s mother. “We felt there was plenty of evidence to convict them.”
For the Jones family, life without Adam has been full of great sadness, but also faith.
“I don’t think anyone can comprehend what this has been like,” said Adam’s father, Wes. “Our faith is in the Lord, not the justice system. Adam is in heaven now, but we’ll see him again – without a doubt.”
Mr. and Mrs. Jones are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that may lead to the arrests of those involved in Adam’s beating. In the meantime, the family would like to use the money to fund two to four scholarships a year for students who want to pursue a trade after high school.
Donations may be made to the Adam Jones Trust, in care of Palm Beach County Bank, 3717 Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33436.

HALEY JORDAN BOBROWSKY

Jacques Bobrowsky’s belief that the court system failed his daughter in life – and death – is the reason he’s trying to change the system for other children, he said.
Somewhere between the residual anger he says he feels about his daughter’s tragic death two years ago – and the love he has for children – Bobrowsky has found a passion for protecting children’s rights.
A year after his daughter, Haley Jordan Bobrowsky, was killed in a traffic accident on her way to school, the Boca Raton man created Haley’s Rights, a nonprofit organization dedicated to investigating criminal cases involving children that result in what he calls “unjustifiable” sentences of the guilty.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no worse crime than one committed against a child,” said Bobrowsky.
He recalled how his life changed forever the morning of Feb. 22, 2000, when Haley’s mother, Stacie Persin, was driving the 8-year-old girl to Del Prado Elementary School.
Persin, who divorced Bobrowsky in December 1992, was driving in excess of 49 miles per hour around a curve in a 30-mph speed zone. Court records say she lost control of her Lexus sport utility vehicle on Palmetto Circle North and crashed.
Haley, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected through the front windshield. She was taken to Delray Medical Center where she died two weeks later.
Persin pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide and accepted a plea deal to serve five years probation, court records say.
Originally, Bobrowsky said he wanted to change the laws to protect children, but after researching state statutes, he said he found laws were frequently in place – just not enforced.
As a result, the Haley’s Rights effort was born.
“We are now investigating cases where extremely light sentences were given when the crimes were committed against children,” he explained.
One example, he said, is a child who is killed by a drunk driver – and the driver is sentenced only to probation.
If the parents don’t feel the sentence is acceptable, Haley’s Rights will re-investigate the case, Bobrowsky said. If improprieties are found, the organization will alert the public and the government.
“And if people are having problems with the Department of Children and Families, they can call us and we’ll get on their case,” he said. “We’re watchdogs.”
Bobrowsky, who claims DCF didn’t listen when he reported alleged emotional and physical abuse of Haley, said the harsh reality that more than 580,000 children were abused or neglected in Florida last year has fueled his determination to protect as many as he can.
“Children have a basic right to live and do so free of abuse,” he said. “The system failed Haley in life and in death. I’m not going to let that happen to other kids.”
Last week, Persin was sentenced to 18 months in prison for violation of probation.
“You never have closure in the death of a child,” said Bobrowsky. “But considering everything that’s happened, last week’s sentence was a victory.”
To learn more about Haley’s Rights, call 338-0099 or visit the organization’s Web site at www.haleysrights.org.

ENGEL SCHROEDER

Boca Raton parents Gail and Walter Schroeder have appeared on three national television shows, all in hope of finding the drunk driver who killed their 9-year-old daughter, Engel, more than two years ago.
The Schroeders said they continue to agonize, knowing their daughter’s killer “is out there somewhere living a normal life when she’s destroyed our lives,” said Gail.
Police believe Brigitte Hartwig, 57 at the time, was driving drunk when she ran a red light at the corner of Military and Verde trails on May 8, 2000, and crashed broadside into Gail Schroeder’s van. Gail was injured but recovered. Engel, a third-grader at St. Paul Lutheran School in Boca Raton, was severely injured and died the day after the accident.
Charges were not immediately filed against Hartwig while investigators gathered information about the crash. When Hartwig was notified by the state in late 2000 that DUI manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter charges would be filed against her, investigators said, she sold her West Boca home and disappeared without a trace.
The German-born fugitive is believed to have fled the United States and possibly returned to her homeland. She has eluded police since her involvement in the fatal crash.
The Schroeders have recently raised from $4,500 to $10,000 the reward money for information leading to Hartwig’s arrest. Family members say they are urging anyone who knows anything about the fugitive’s whereabouts to call.
“We’ll never get closure on the loss of our daughter, but it really irks us knowing that she [Hartwig] is living a life, knowing what she’s done,” Walter Schroeder said.
Hartwig is described as a white female, 5-foot-8-inches tall, weighing 125 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. She may be going under the name Brigitte Muller or Brigitte Fischer. She is believed to have been in New York City in December 2000.
Her last known address was 21717 Hammock Point Drive in West Boca.
Anyone with information is urged to call toll-free to (800) CRIMETV. Callers can remain anonymous.

MATTHEW PETTERSEN

“The worst thing we’ve ever had to see was [Matty’s] picture on the 5 o’clock news,” said Bonnie Pettersen. “I never thought it would happen to me.”
After her 21-year-old son was brutally murdered more than two years ago in Delray Beach, the young man’s mother says the family has been on an emotional roller coaster, coping with the loss and following the trials of her son’s killers, Tommy Daigle, 24, and Thomas Sax, 22.
Both are currently serving time for second-degree murder.
As part of his plea deal, Daigle told jurors he mainly watched as Sax beat Matty with a baseball bat, strangled him with a pair of pants and an electrical cord and stomped on his face the night of Sept. 24, 2000. Daigle said he later stabbed Matty to put an end to his suffering.
But because the two killers tossed their victim into a dumpster in Broward County, Pettersen’s body was never recovered, eliminating even the possibility of a burial service and the chance for closure that it might have brought a measure of peace. This has made their son’s death even more difficult for the Pettersen family, who have longed for a way to honor his memory.
Matty, as he was called by family and friends, had a charismatic personality and a compassionate heart, said Pettersen, who lives in Boynton Beach.
“You feel so much loss when something like this happens,” she said. “You lose the present, but you also lose their future and other memories you would have created, just watching them grow up and have a family. Matty loved kids. He wanted to have a family someday.”
Pettersen said she has re-connected with God and has been attending church since the death of her son.
“I feel like I’ve been protected and carried through this,” said Pettersen, who said she has had to distance herself from the gruesome details of the murder. “I picture Matty saying to me, ‘Don’t let this ruin your life. Life is short and we’ll be together soon.’”
Pettersen family members say they are planning to hold a memorial for Matty after Sax’s sentencing in April.

JULIE WILLS

Nearly seven years ago, someone broke into his daughter’s Boca Raton apartment and slashed her to death.
And every day since then, Art Crum says, he has prayed for police to find her killer.
“We’re still hoping for a miracle that someone will come forward and tell us something that will lead us to our daughter’s killer,” said Crum, who will arrive in Boca Raton with his wife, Nancy, on Thursday for their annual visit to commemorate their daughter’s death. They will take part in a Mass in her honor at 9:15 a.m. at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton.
Investigators said they still have no solid evidence to resolve the April 13, 1996 murder of Julie Anne Wills, whose body was discovered in her kitchen by her ex-boyfriend, Steven Flacco.
Wills, who would have celebrated her 39th birthday in December, lived with Flacco before moving into a duplex near Federal Highway and Northeast 20th Street in February 1996.
Boca Raton police intently investigated the murder and determined there was no robbery or sexual assault, although bruises discovered on Wills’ body indicated she struggled with her attacker.
Even now, the case tugs at the heart of Detective Guy DiBenedetto, who led the investigation and has spoken to Crum every week since the murder.
“Every day, I wish we would be able to close this case and make sure the perpetrator is in custody,” DiBenedetto said.
The detective said he continues to pursue new information, and if he learns of an arrest made for a violent crime, he will check to see if it occurred in the Boca Raton area at the time of Wills’ death.
While the Crums said DiBenedetto has worked tirelessly to help them, they feel jilted by the justice system.
“It seems like the law is tilted towards criminals,” said the murdered woman’s mother. “Victims’ rights are not the same as perpetrators’ rights.”
As a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect still sits unclaimed, the Crums said they hope someone somewhere knows something and will come forward.
The couple said they are desperate to find justice for Julie, feeling they are the mouthpiece for their daughter whose life was cut tragically short.
“Maybe one day Julie will give us a clue that leads us in the right direction,” said Nancy.
The Crums said they’ll never recover from Julie’s loss, but knowing who killed her might help them live the rest of their lives with peace of mind.

Haley's Home | Awareness | Haley's Story | Haley's Rights Contact |Links   Statistics |Music Fundraising Event | Officers and Directors | News Archives  About Haley's Rights | Calls to Action

Privacy Policy, Terms of Use

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2001