SARASOTA – Family and friends say tearful goodbyes to Jabez Spann. The teen who mysteriously disappeared more than a year ago was laid to rest at the Palms Memorial Park Cemetery in Sarasota.
“It’s been really surreal, today it makes it very concrete for me,” said Tawana Spann.
Spann joined by her support group of close friends and family gathered to remember the young teen’s life as they knew him, an energetic young man with a lot to live for.
Spann’s fiancé, Ivy Joe Butler, is to bring missing children back home to their families.
“We’re going to create that awareness because a lot of parents think this can’t be them, this won’t happen to them. They come home and hug and kiss their children every day,” said Butler.
Jabez Burial coincided with National Missing Children Awareness Day. The message from the Spann family that everyday a loved one doesn’t return home to their family.
“We’re going to just continue to try and make sure that we can prevent this happening anymore for other people,” said Spann.
Spann founded the Jabez Spann Foundation to help families with the resources needed to continue the search for their loved one. A feeling she does not wish on any mother.
“It doesn’t matter who you are this can happened to anybody, any type of family,” said Spann.