Police appeal for tips in death of 14-year-old boy whose bones were found on the side of a road

Police in Florida are appealing to the public for information related to the unsolved case of a 14-year-old boy whose skeletal remains were discovered on the side of the road a year ago. 

Jabez Spann had gone missing in 2017, a week after witnessing a man’s murder. 

Two years later, on February 16, 2019, a laborer came upon the missing teen’s fully skeletonized body in rural Manatee County. Spann was positively identified by his dental records. 

Sarasota Police Department spokeswoman Genevieve Judge says the investigation into Spann’s death remains active, but the agency has not received many leads over the past 12 months.

‘We wish more people would come forward, because like we said it in the beginning, we feel like someone in our community knows something and is afraid to come forward,’ she told Bradenton Herald. 

A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the teenager’s death. 

Tawanna Spann, Jabez’s mother, has hired a private investigator to look into the case.

Jabez’s mother on Sunday visited this memorial in Manatee County marking the spot where her son’s bones were recovered a year ago 

On Sunday, she visited a roadside memorial that was erected in her son’s honor and shared photos on her Facebook page, writing in the accompanying post: ‘I was dreading all day to go see this. The tears that flow when i went here are just as painful as the day he was found. 

Upsetting: Tawana Spann shared this very unsettling image showing her son’s bones in a box, as she drew a comparison between herself and the mother of Emmett Till, who made public an extremely graphic photo of her 14-year-old’s son mutilated face in 1955

‘I just cant understand stand how someone could just throw his body on the side of the road like that…Im not gonna stop until i know. So whoever did this please dont rest easy your gonna pay for this.’

Earlier that afternoon, the mother posted an upsetting image showing her son’s bones in a box, as she drew a comparison between herself and the mother of Emmett Till, who made public an extremely graphic photo of her 14-year-old’s son mutilated face after he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.   

Spann later told the Herald that she is convinced that there are many people out there who know what happened to her son, but who are keeping mum about it. 

Jabez disappeared on September 4, 2017, about a week after police say he witnessed the shooting of 31-year-old Travis Combs.

Police reports said on August 28, 2017, three men chased Combs into a field next to his home just as Spann was leaving a friend’s house next door. Spann saw the men shoot Combs and flee.

Spann went missing on September 4, 2017, about a week after he witnessed the murder of 31-year-old Travis Combs in Sarasota (left and right). The father-of-one was shot dead after being chased by three men near his home

Combs’ body was found in a patch of grass near 22nd Street and Palmadelia Avenue, about 200 yards from Spann’s home. The man left behind a toddler son.

Spann was last seen alive on the night of September 4 in the area of 22nd Street in Sarasota after attending a candlelight vigil for Combs, reported Herald-Tribune.

At 4.30pm on February 16, 2019, a laborer repairing a fence line in the area west of Interstate 75 came upon skeletal remains and called 911. The specific location was not released.

Officials said during a news conference announcing the grim find that it is unknown how long the remains were at the location where they were found.  

As of Friday morning, no arrests have been made in the Spann case.