On September 4, 2017, 14-year-old Jabez Spann is last seen near 22nd Street and Palamadelia Avenue in Sarasota. His family believes he might have witnessed the murder of 31-year-old Travis Combs before he disappeared. February 16th, 2019 the remains of Jabez Spann were found in rural Manatee County.  

In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, talks with Tawana Spann, the mother of Jabez Spann about life before Jabez went missing, what Jabez was like as a child and how the death of her son has been her driving force in helping others heal from losing a loved one.

 

Show Notes: 

• [0:00] Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum. Sheryl gives a brief introduction to the episode involving the unsolved murder of 14-year-old Jabez Spann 
• [1:56] On September 4, 2017, Jabez Spann could not be found 
• [2:15] Sheryl sets the scene for the Labor Day weekend when Jabez went missing
• [4:21] Hurricane Irma hit Sarasota Florida on September 10th, 2017
• [5:23] First twist to the case: Jabez may have witnessed a murder
• [5:44] Second twist to the case: Reginald Parker witnessed a murder on Aug. 28, 2017 and said he saw a Jabez at the scene during the incident
• [7:03] “It's two separate people witnessing the same event from different vantage points.”
• [7:10] Third twist: the murder victim that Jabez possibly witnessed was Travis Combs
• [8:05] Twist four-six: Reginald goes to jail on unrelated charges, Reginald changes his story once he's inside, and In cold cases, you always work backward 
• [9:32] February 16th, 2019. The remains of Jabez were found on a rural road in Manatee County
• [10:39] Sheryl introduces guest, Tawana Spann, the mother of Jabez to Zone 7
• [11:38] Tawana describes early life with Jabez
• [18:24] Tawana describes getting the call from her mom regarding Jabez
• [20:36] ​​”A runaway is a missing person.”
• [34:38] ANYONE with ANY information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Sarasota at 941-366-TIPS. A $50,000 reward remains in place for information that leads to an arrest. Please come forward. You can remain anonymous.
• [38:07] Sarasota adopts a new protocol for missing persons
• [44:31] Missing Our Voices
• [45:56] “Sometimes the very thing that causes us pain can be the very thing that heals us.”
• [48:31] Question: Where does the case stand as of now?
• [51:58] “Never assume they just ran away. Assume the worst and work down from there. And no matter what, Don't call off the search” -Kelsey German.
• [52:29] Next week. The secret hidden door inside Britney's apartment was the killer already. Is that why there was no forced entry? Join us and hear Maggie Zing tell you about the murder of her daughter, Brittany.
• [52:30] Thanks for listening to another episode! If you’re loving the show and want to help grow the show, please head over to Itunes and leave a rating and review! How to Leave an Apple Podcast Review: First, Open the podcast app on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad. Then, hit the “Search” tab at the bottom right-hand corner of the page and search for Zone 7. Select the podcast, scroll down to find the subheading “Ratings & Reviews”. and select “Write a Review.” Next, select the number of stars you’d like to leave. Please choose 5 stars! Using the text box which says “Title,” write a title for your review. Then in the text box, write the review itself. The review can be up to 300 words long, but doesn’t need to be much more than: “Love the show! Thanks!” or Once you’re done select “Send” in the upper right-hand corner.

 

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.  

You can connect and learn more about Sheryl’s work by visiting the CCIRI website https://coldcasecrimes.org

Social Links:

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
• Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum

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