The “fully skeletonized” remains were discovered of a Florida teen who went missing in 2017 after he allegedly witnessed a brutal killing, officials said.
Sarasota police said 14-year-old Jabez Spann was found dead Saturday in a field in Manatee County more than a year after he vanished.
“This is a tremendous loss to their family and our community,” Sarasota Deputy Chief of Police Pat Robinson said Tuesday night in a press conference.
Spann, a star football player, vanished on Sept. 4, 2017, about a week after, while on a walk home, he witnessed 31-year-old Travis Combs shot dead, the Herald-Tribune reported.
The teen was last seen at a family gathering in his hometown of Sarasota, which is about 30 miles south of where his body was found. He was headed to a pal’s house when he disappeared, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Police said Tuesday the teen’s body was discovered by a worker repairing a fence in the rural area. His body was so decomposed that authorities identified him using dental records, Robinson said.
Authorities didn’t release a cause of death, but are treating the case as a homicide.
“We’ve always felt that there are individuals in our community that are scared to come forward,” Robinson said. “The folks that did it, we believe, are from our community.”
Jabez’s mom, Tawana Spann, expressed her grief Wednesday on social media.
“Somebody knows what happened. Look at his face and see that he needs your help,” she wrote on Facebook. “This is not over its just changed from missing case to a death. What a beautiful child that you took.”



