JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been nearly 16 years since 17-year-old Derrell Baker was shot and killed while walking on Jacksonville’s Westside.
That’s 6,149 days since Pamela Howard last saw her son.
“I miss going to lunch with him. I miss seeing how smart he is,” Howard told News4JAX. “I just miss our conversations and just seeing just how bright he was.”
Baker, a student enrolled in an online education program at the Potter’s House Mall, was walking on Old Middleburg Road near Ed White High School around 7 a.m. when someone drove by and shot him.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he died.
“I took off from work to have a girls day, and I went and had my girls day, and I got home, and my oldest daughter was in college, and she said, mom, she said, somebody said, Derrell got shot, and I didn’t think much of it. And I said, Well, it’s OK, baby. I said, we’ll just find out,” Howard said.
Pamela began calling hospitals searching for a John Doe since Derrell had left his ID at home.
Hours later, she finally got an answer from UF Health.
“I remember talking to the detective and them asking me just basic questions about, you know, my son, and then they asked me, then they told me. They said he that, well, he was the John Doe, but he didn’t make it. It didn’t register at first. I don’t remember anything after that.”
Now, the Howard family is still searching for answers and waiting for justice.
“We’ll never get Derrell back, but to be able to go visit his grave and say, son, we fought for you. We know who did it. The responsibility has been taken. That’s what we need. We need that closure so that our family can not have unsaid words and conversations that we just were afraid to say out loud,” Howard said.
But what remains is hope that someone, somewhere, will find the courage to come forward so her family can finally have the justice they’ve been waiting for.
If you have any information about Derrell Baker’s death, call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.
