SARASOTA – It’s been three years since Jabez Spann vanished… the young teen from Sarasota whose disappearance rocked the Suncoast.
“Everybody else can say ‘hey it’s three years so..’ it’s three years to them but to us. A time frame doesn’t really come in play,” said Tawana Spann.
Tawana has mourned the loss of her son since his disappearance in 2017 and after his remains were found in a rural part of Manatee County in 2019.
Since then Tawana founded the Jabez Spann Foundation, an organization that helps others with the necessary resources to find their missing loved once. She says with the pandemic, the need for help has only increased.
“There’s people that are still, their children are being abducted in the pandemic on top financial situations,” said Tawana.
Tawana says the pain of not knowing what exactly happened to her son after he disappeared stays with her.
This year Jabez would’ve turned 18; be entering his senior of high school, and preparing to embark on his own journey come graduation. All of which were taken from Jabez but also from his family.
“You just try to heal with time and you don’t lose that feeling of love for them,” said Tawana.
Throughout this journey Tawana hasn’t lost hope in putting those responsible for the murder of her son behind bars. She hopes anyone with information comes forward to the police.
In the meantime she plans on relaunching the foundations website, finish her book on how siblings are affected by the disappearance of loved ones, and tour the nation sharing Jabez’s story so he is always remembered.
“A loss of a child it gave me a sense of a purpose for his life,” said Tawana. “Sometimes our purposed is served through our death and his purpose is definitely being served through him not being here with us.”
A $50,000 reward is still available for anyone with information regarding the disappearance and murder of Jabez.
