Sunday, Jun. 29, 2008

Family struggles with slaying

It's been nine months since the body of 25-year-old Sean Richard Freeman was discovered by a college student in the parking lot of a small Fort Valley apartment complex last September.

His family continues to struggle with the death of the gregarious young man with a big heart and potential for a bright future but whose father said was also struggling to overcome cocaine use.

Capt. Lawrence Spurgeon, a 14-year detective, said he believes police have "a good working knowledge of what happened" to Sean, who suffered chest and facial wounds from two gunshots fired at close range.

While Spurgeon declined to disclose all of what police know about the killing, including the motive or type of weapon used, he said two Hispanic men have been identified as suspects and authorities are actively looking for them.

The detective also said that Sean Freeman had an illegal drug in his system the morning he was shot but declined to identify the drug.

The young man was wearing dark-colored shorts, a light-colored T-shirt and tennis shoes when he was killed. The detective recalled that the shirt was worn inside out and that the shooting victim had no wallet or cash on him.

A SNAPSHOT OF

THE SLAYING

Freeman was slain Sept. 14, 2007, between midnight and 7 a.m., when the body was discovered by a Fort Valley State University student who lived in the apartment building and who was on his way to class. The detective declined to identify the student.

Interviews with the building's residents, mostly students, at the time of the shooting produced no witnesses to what police have ruled a homicide, Spurgeon said.

But several residents told police they heard "some sort of disturbance," he said.

Police believe that Freeman, who was living in Fort Valley with his father, stepmother and a sister, was shot in the parking lot, the detective said.

There was also evidence to indicate a struggle occurred before the shooting, Spurgeon said, declining to elaborate on the nature of the evidence.

Sean's white Ford F-150 pickup was found in the parking lot, parked at an angle next to the car belonging to the student who discovered the body, Spurgeon said.

The struggle and shooting apparently occurred near a chain-link fence at the edge of the parking lot and a yellow house, said the detective, who pointed to white sand in a grassy strip next to the pavement that he said was used to soak up blood from the crime scene.

The fence separates the house from the parking lot and the apartment building, La Vista No. 2 at 615 Elberta St., a white two-story building with green trim and a second-floor balcony.

The nearby yellow house is used as a boarding house for migrant workers in the area, Spurgeon said. He declined to say whether the men police are looking for in connection with the murder may have lived there.

The detective also declined to release the identities of the suspects. Authorities do not know if the names of the suspects are birth names or aliases, or whether the men are in the country legally, he said.

The biographical sketch of the victim that detectives developed, Spurgeon said, includes that he was employed by a Fort Valley company that manufactures stone, brick and marble, that he was a good athlete but was known to have a drug problem, that he graduated from high school near Americus, that his mother and father were estranged and that he had a brother employed in law enforcement.

'A HEART BIGGER

THAN LIFE ITSELF'

His family described Sean as someone who would bend over backward to help a friend or a stranger but who wouldn't back down from an argument or a fight.

"He had a heart bigger than life itself," said his mom, Joy Stephens. "If he had $10 in his pocket and you walked up to him and said you need $5, he'd give it to you, and if you said you needed it all, he'd give it all to you. ... He would have worried about his problems later."

In the last week of his life, he had spent some time in Americus with his mom, which she said wasn't uncommon. The family enjoyed grilling out and hanging out by the family pool and Sean often joined them on the weekends, she said.

"He's always been my best friend; the person that always had my back," Stephens said. "I don't know how you can go beyond that. He was just everything to me."

Sean had also spent time hanging out with his father at the Fort Valley home they shared with his stepmom and a sister.

Rick Freeman described his son as a person who would give a stranger a ride or feed a homeless man and as one with whom women felt comfortable to watch over them while out at a nightclub.

Father and son were lying side by side on the bed watching sports on TV one afternoon a few days before his death when Sean talked to his dad about a desire to change the direction of his life and get free of cocaine, Freeman recalled.

"I want to believe in my heart that he meant what he said," the grieving father said.

Both families were excited about celebrating Sean's birthday that weekend. He was killed the morning of his birthday.

THE EVE OF THE MURDER

Hours before his death, Sean came in late, washed up and went to bed in boxer shorts and a T-shirt, his father said.

It was the last time Freeman would see his son.

He said he later heard him get up and leave the house between 1:30 and 2 a.m.

Freeman recalled seeing the taillights of his son's truck disappear into the night. It was the first time his son had gone out after-hours without telling him first, he said.

The father said he had a sinking feeling as he went back to bed. A few hours later, he was told his son's body had been found in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

The father said a resident along Elberta Street where the apartments are located later told him he heard gunshots at about 2:40 a.m. The coroner told him his son's keys were still in the ignition of his truck.

Police have told Freeman his son was involved in a scuffle with two Hispanic men but have not disclosed much more that that, he said.

Freeman added that he believes police are aggressively investigating the homicide.

A NEIGHBOR WHO WAS

AT HOME THAT MORNING

Daniel Albritton, who works at a fast-food restaurant while taking graduate-level classes at Fort Valley State University, said he was at home early that morning but didn't hear or see anything. His second-floor apartment overlooks where Sean was gunned down.

He said it was storming that night, which may account for why he didn't hear anything other than a neighbor's dog barking.

Albritton said a younger student knocked on his door around 7 a.m. to tell him about a body being found in the parking lot.

"There's a dead man out here," Albritton recalled the student saying.

He said the students who lived there last fall when the slaying occurred have since graduated or otherwise moved.

But on the morning of the killing, the apartment community was in a stir, Albritton said.

"Everybody was out here looking over the railing," he recalled as he stood outside his apartment and pointed to where the body was discovered. "It was a bad, bad day."

He said police put up yellow crime-scene tape and would not allow anyone to leave the building until everyone had been interviewed.

Jack Smith, who lives across the street from the apartment building, said he and his wife didn't hear anything the night of the shooting.

Other than loud music from time to time, the students who have moved in and out of the building over the years have been good neighbors, Smith said.

When Capt. Spurgeon got the call about the body, he said, he was shocked at the location.

So were the students and the college community, the detective said, as news of what he termed an "isolated incident" swept through the small community.

The detective said most college kids have their minds on their studies, tailgating and fraternity parties.

"The last thing you think about is waking up and finding a dead person in your parking lot," he said.

Navarro Russell, 21, a sophomore from Clayton County, said he wasn't aware of the killing when he moved in recently to a first-floor apartment across from where the shooting occurred.

Russell said he believes the apartments are a good place to live and he wasn't concerned about his safety. At the same time, he said, he wasn't about to tell his mother about the killing.

"She'd make me move home," he said.

Rick Freeman has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of his son. Anyone with information about the slaying may contact Spurgeon at 822-6977.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 923-3109, extension 243.