ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Oct. 19, 2009, started like any other day for Somer Thompson. The 7-year-old woke up, ate breakfast and rushed off to school with her twin brother and older sister. It was a Monday.
After school, she ran ahead of her siblings as they walked home, separating from the group. When they arrived home, Somer was not there.
She was never seen alive again.
The search for the missing 7-year-old brought hundreds to the small town of Orange Park.
They’d never met the little girl, but they wanted to help find her. They passed out fliers with her picture. They searched backyards, woods, under cars, and behind houses.
They gathered each night outside her mother’s home, holding candles, flowers, and notes left at a memorial under a tree facing Somer’s home.
They wore purple, Somer’s favorite color, and each night they sang her favorite song, “You Are My Sunshine.”
Two days later, we all learned the devastating news. Somer was not coming home.
RELATED: Remembering Somer 10 years after Orange Park girl’s murder
Then-Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler announced during a news conference that the 7-year-old’s body had been discovered dozens of miles away, in a Georgia landfill.
It took time, but Somer’s killer was identified, arrested and convicted.
Jared Harrell lived in a home Somer passed every day walking to and from school. She loved animals. Harrell had a dog that often barked as children walked by.
Investigators think Somer stopped to pet the animal, and Harrell seized on the opportunity to lure her inside. He raped her and killed her, sneaking her body out of his home concealed inside a large cooler.
He pleaded guilty and will die in prison.
The home, though, where he took the 7-year-old’s life sat empty for years until the bank that foreclosed on it donated it to a foundation named after Somer Thompson.
Somer’s mom, Diena, wanted it destroyed so no one would have to look at it and remember the evil that had happened there. The Orange Park Fire Department burned it to the ground as part of a training exercise in 2015.
Somer’s Garden was created soon after.
Among the banana trees, fig tree and benches is a path designed in the shape of an “S,” lined with mulch.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Diena Thompson, as she and I sat on a bench under an archway with a sign that reads: “Somer’s Garden.”
It is never easy for Diena to be here. Watching kids walk along the same sidewalk her daughter used makes her miss her little girl. But the garden is a peaceful place to sit.
The sun’s rays and the sound of birds make Diena feel connected to Somer.
“I got to take something away that was a painful reminder not just for me, but for all the people who call this area home,” she said about the decision to burn down the house. “I got to make it something they enjoy. In the summertime, they can eat fruit from the trees, get a snack and read a book. Someone added a book barn for kids, and I opened it up and someone had drawn me a picture of the garden.
“It’s just the littlest of things that make you realize there is still good in this world,” she said.
I asked Diena to meet me at Somer’s Garden because I had never been there. I met Diena the day after her daughter disappeared and have stayed in touch with her since.
News4JAX is highlighting local communities in our area, starting with Orange Park, and I couldn’t image telling the story of the town without sharing Somer’s story.
It is gut-wrenching and horrific. I cried then and I cried again watching our archive videos of that time more than 15 years ago.
But the other part of Somer’s story is also about the town of Orange Park and all the people who wrapped their arms around Diena and her children to hold them up during the worst time of their lives.
Diena is eternally grateful to all of them.
“These are the people who stood beside me, behind me, in front of me, under me, I’m getting a little emotional when I think about it,” she said through tears. “They’ll see me in public; they come up and hug my neck. I feel so fortunate to have so many people who love and care about us who never got the pleasure to meet Somer.”
Diena said Orange Park will always be her home, regardless of where she lives.
“There aren’t words in the English language for me to thank people for what they did for myself and my family,” she said. “I just want everyone to know if not for them, I would not be able to be the person I am.”
Diena misses Somer every day. It never gets any easier.
She has channeled her grief into raising awareness and has spent years educating parents and children about safety.
She now sits on the board that hosts Missing Children’s Day every year in Tallahassee. She shares her message with anyone who will listen.
“We should all be watching all the time, even if it’s not your child. Children can’t protect themselves; we’re adults, they need our help,” she said.
Diena encouraged anyone who sees something that seems even slightly off to say something.
“We have a lot of other things going on, trafficking of children and adults. It’s not just the scary guy in the park anymore,” she said. “It’s far more than that. They continue to get better at their craft, so we’ve got to get better at educating our children and adults.”
Diena said she had never seen Jared Harrell before her daughter was killed. She had warned Somer and her other children many times about staying away from strangers.
Harrell never told investigators how he lured Somer inside his home, but the little girl had likely seen him as she walked to and from school, perhaps she never considered him a stranger but saw him as a neighbor. We will never know.
Somer Thompson would be turning 23 years old in April.