Please let your opinion be known however you are comfortable that this community will not rest until the people who caused our son’s death are investigated FULLY and brought to justice.
Yes, my teenage son had a serious drug problem. He was involved in high-risk activities with clearly dangerous people. In no way do we minimize or make excuses for that fact. However, that didn’t give others the right to kill an 18 year old boy who was a much loved son and big brother to three younger siblings, who are devastated. Henry could have recovered from his addictions and gone on to lead a full life as a wonderful, contributing citizen. He was only eighteen years old. Now he will never have that chance.
Please make your voices heard. Leave your comments on the news stories covering Henry’s death. And we ask that you respectfully and politely express your concerns about the way this case is being handled to the Knox County Sheriff’s Department and the Knox County District Attorney’s Office (Office of the District Attorney General at 865.215.4466)
We are grateful to all of the hard working law enforcement officers and prosecutors in our community. We know they have THE most difficult of difficult jobs. In no way do we want to malign the excellent reputation that these professionals have earned in Knox County. But our young son didn’t have to die. There needs to be a comprehensive, focused and skilled investigation into what is an admittedly complex series of events that led to Henry’s death.
Henry didn’t have to die. He didn’t want to die. And we are heartbroken and shattered.
Please help us speak for Henry.
Thank you-
Katie, Henry’s mama
74 Responses to “Justice for Henry”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I have posted. No, Henry shouldn’t be dead. Those criminals should be caught.
I found your story through Twitter. I just read through your entire ordeal and I am heartbroken for you. I am so very sorry for your loss and even though I am a LONG ways away I will be doing as you’ve asked in this post because your son was in essence murdered and those who caused his death should be brought to justice. Again I am very, very sorry for your loss and as the mother of a 10 year old boy in a town riddled with Meth, I thank you so much for sharing your story.
I’m so sorry Katie! I have done what you asked. I so wish I could do more. He was so beautiful!
I can’t stop thinking about what you are going through right now. I have read comments that criticize you for going public with your story, but I can tell you, that as the mother of a 14 year old boy, thoughts of your tragedy will stay with me, and your words will cause me to be more aware. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for that. but I’m so sorry your words have come from such grief.
Oh Katie…no words. I am so sorry.
We support you, Katie. And I am praying, yes praying, that there will be more than enough evidence to support charges, an indictment, and ultimate conviction of those involved. They need to be held accountable for their actions and they need to be off the streets unable to harm anyone else’s children.
They took advantage of a very young man in a vulnerable situation who was unable to defend himself from such a vicious attack. You do not wield a tire iron at someone else without intending serious bodily harm or death. These are sociopaths – criminal thinkers. They are predators who feed off the weaknesses of others and whose livelihood depends on the addictions of their victims.
My son is 18 and to the death, I would fight for him and fight for any justice as a result of any kind of harm done to him.
I will express my concerns.
Katie, I am deeply saddened to hear of Henry’s death. My heart breaks for you and the rest of his family. I pray each day that God will give you the strength to face each day without Henry. God will give you the strength if you only ask. He doesn’t give us any more than we can bear. I also pray that the people who are responsible for Henry’s death are caught and brought to justice even though no justice will ever replace your baby boy. I am so sorry that you have had to endure these past several weeks as you have. Please know that you are in my prayers….Kim
Just waiting to be registered at that Knoxville news website so I can leave a comment. I didn’t even know Henry and yet when I see his photos, I feel so sad that such a beautiful person is no longer in this world.
the unfortunate thing is, when law enforcement, the media and the general public learn that a victim was an addict, their perspective changes and they lose interest in pursuing the criminal. such a shame. my heart goes out to you for the loss of your son. addicition is a disease. were he a diabetic or the like, people would be outraged. a disease is a disease.
My heart aches for you. Justice will come for you and your family! It may not be as swift and vengeful as I am sure you would like – but it will come. I believe in God and karma. They will both have their turn with those that have hurt your family so deeply! I only hope that our justice system can give you the same guarantee.
Thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
Katie, you don’t know me from Adam’s house cat (or anyone’s house cat for that matter) but I felt I should comment and offer my condolences to you and your family over this terrible tragedy.I heard your story from @johncaveosborne through Twitter. I cannot begin to imagine the sorrow and the bewilderment you experience as I read through your posts. The loss of a child is every parent’s worse fear. But thank you so much for being so open with your story and about your son’s addiction. I come from a background of addiction myself and struggled for many years. It took a long time to have the courage to be open about it, before and after. I praise you and your heart and strength for making the issue public, and raising the awareness to other parents about the struggles and the issues surrounding the horrible disease. You have brought to light an issue that many parents don’t want to deal with and don’t want to be open about. My heart breaks for you. Know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers for a while to come. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, just for today” – Serenity Prayer
I will do as you’ve asked, absolutely. And I am trying to tell your story, a little, to get parents (like me) who may have felt semi-complacent about drug experimentation, to rethink. I blogged about it today, and though my semi-retired blog doesn’t get many readers anymore, I’m hoping people will read, and think, and mourn that even one boy had to go through this.
Henry deserves justice, and I hope that his legacy helps other kids make safe decisions.
Much love to your family.
My heart goes out to you for the loss of your beautiful boy. I hope the police find the scumbag drug-dealing-to-children killers so they can rot in jail. But let’s blame the real culprit for drug addiction, which is not even the drug-dealers. And in the case of your child, it’s certainly not you; do not blame yourself. From the little I’ve read on your blog, you are a hard-working, thoughtful, loving parent. So then what is the culprit? A culture of moral relativism, altruism, and mysticism.
There will be drug addiction (or other forms of self-destructiveness) as long as we have a culture that teaches each child that:
-He is no better than anyone else even if he is more honest, productive, and active-minded
-Pride is a sin
-There is no such thing as certainty or absolute truth
-One should gain moral worth and happiness from their ability to fit in with the group, instead of from individual achievement
-Morality is subjective, based on tradition, based on duty, or derived from a mystical deity who says man’s mind is impotent to deal with reality
The creative, sensitive types have an especially difficult time dealing with today’s nihilism, as they cannot function under the culturally induced impression that one should drop their idealistic vision in the name of compromise. Delicate, visionary minds lose the motivation to pursue long-range productive goals when they accept falsely that one must compromise their ideals to survive.
I write this in hopes of seeing a positive cultural change towards one guided by a rational objective morality, self-esteem, and productive achievement, the only things that will make drug addiction (or any form of self-destruction) a thing of the past. Thank you for being so open and honest about your story.
I am on my way to comment. We are with you Katie…
Love and peace to you,
Jane
No he did not have to die and you deserve not only justice but to know the truth. I would want to know the truth.
I’ve made my comments and will now post a link to this on my blog as well.
I have sent my message to the Sheriff’s department on Henry’s behalf.
Until Dooce’s tweet yesterday, I’d not heard of your blog or your son. I wish I’d arrived here for a happy reason, instead of a tragedy.
Katie, I want thank you for your openness. I have 3 nephews who are the center of my life, indeed the center of their extended family. I hope to be an even better Auntie to them by someday sharing Henry’s story with each of them.
Words seem so empty, especially from a stranger. But I wanted you to know that you have made a difference. I wish you peace as you celebrate Henry’s life.
Katie, Michael Silence has suggested you contact Les Jones (http://www.lesjones.com/). He is quite the advocate for murder inquiries.
Although I didn’t know your son, many of my friends did and are taking the news pretty hard. I am so sorry for your loss, and I really hope that the people who did this suffer the consequences of their actions. My family will pray for you and yours.
I’m so sorry, Katie. Henry is making a difference…a huge difference to so many people. I will never look at teenage drug use the same way again. And I’ll visit those links and support your quest for justice.
I’ve commented on the article and emailed the sheriff’s office as you asked.
Peace and love to your family this week and always.
Katie, just adding my voice to say I’m very sorry for your family’s loss, and for the crime that took Henry away forever. Comfort and healing to you and your family.
I’m sorry for your loss. It is, of course, tragic beyond words. And your blog has prompted me to discuss drugs and drug use at a more serious level than I would have. Thank you for sharing this story. It is brave and big of you.
I’m am simply appalled by the sherrif’s dept new statement on this. I’m so angry with those people. Katie I want you and Henry and family to have the justice you deserve.
I have left comments on the article and will contact the sheriff’s office as well.
I am so very sorry for your loss.
10 years ago I discovered AP and it changed my life. I read your book. I passed it around to my friends and family who had babies. And over the past 10 years I’ve thought of you from time to time, most recently when my own teenager caused me so much heartbreak I could hardly catch my breath.
I’ve been reading past posts on your blog, and your experience with Henry has moved me to tears more than once. I will be sharing it with my own children.
I wish I could somehow send you a hug and a casserole. I wish I could send you peace. I am so very sorry that Henry’s beautiful light was extinguished early.
Much love.
Katie, we’re all loud voices shouting beside you, demanding justice for your family. I’ve read your blog on and off for several years, and know you’re one strong lady and a hell of a devoted mama to all of your beautiful children. Keep fighting!
My cousin was shot to death by two “friends.” People made statements to me like “He was involved in drugs, what did you expect?” and “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” Your son did not deserve to die – he suffered from a terrible, vicious illness. I pray every single day that none of my children ever have to know the horror that is drug addiction. So many people struggle so hard each day to overcome it – unfortunately often times despite all the love, caring and support they are shown they are unable to defeat it. And everyone should be very, VERY wary of judging him or you because it could happen in any one of our families at any time. Praying for you and your family.
on my way to comment now. i lit a candle for henry’s safe passage on sunday – before i checked your blog.
there’s a saying in 12 step recovery, “we are not bad people; just sick people trying to get better”.
henry’s story will live on as long as you and the rest of us tell it.
This really pisses me off that you provided them with the assailant and the witness and are doing nothing.
It’s a crime to be assaulted with a tire iron.
WTF is going on in Knoxville.
I’m not a cop and I can figure out that Henry could have been concerned with his safety and the safety of his family.
Katie,
My heart goes out to you. A friend of mine shared your story on Facebook and I have been reading your blog now for a couple of days. I cannot even imagine the pain of what you are going through and it is my hope that someday/somehow you find Peace. An arrest/justice of some sort may help – I will absolutely leave a comment now as you asked…and I wanted to say that I you opened my eyes to something. I never would have thought to start talking to my children about drugs and as bad as this sounds I may have even had a fairly mild reaction had my child came to me and said he smoked pot. My opinion has changed and I starting dialoguq last night with my son who listened and asked questions…the first thing he asked me about this morning was your son. So thank you for sharing your story. Henry was so lucky to have such a wonderful Mama. Sending you and your family huge prayers.
The idea of them not doing anything proactive is infuriating.
The fact that drugs played a role in Henry’s death is no more important than what a sexual assualt victim was wearing, what alley she was walking down, etc.; no one ASKS for these kinds of things to happen, even if they place themselves in inherently dangerous situations.
As someone who was actually a friend of Henry’s from school, it’s infuriating to think that they aren’t going to push this investigation to the absolute limit, especially if the cause for this bias is the fact that it was a drug deal gone awry. This was a person, with people who knew him and loved him, family and friends.
There is no excuse for what happened to him, not even the fact that he placed himself in a dangerous situation. Drug deals happen every day, with kids Henry’s age, younger, and older. Drug abuse is not a good enough reason to brush this kind of horrible tragedy under the rug.
I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your precious child. Please know that I am praying that you can feel the presence of God and His love for you and your beloved son, even in this time of unbelievable grief. Your son will not have died in vain because so many of us will be sharing your story with every teen we can so that they will have the opportunity to rethink decisions they are making.
My sweet Bonni loves your family so much, and has spoke of her love for Jane time and time again. I pray that God will give all of you the strength you need to get through this very heartbreaking time.
I am shocked, horrified and outraged at what has happened to your son and your family. I am not a mother, but somehow this has gotten to me like no other story of a mother’s heartbreak. I want to share the message I sent to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office via your link so that others who want to ask for help on this case and who may not have the time or words to express themselves may borrow from it and make it their own if they wish. All of my words are not the best, either, but they were quickly written with a great amoutn of passion and hope. God’s speed to you and your family.
“Good people, I ask you to please devote your full investigatory resources and passion to investigating the beating of this young man. He is dead now and cannot speak for himself, but in NO WAY was this a victimless crime. This community needs to know that assault and alleged murder will be investigated and vigorously punished by death or a long prison sentence.
I do not know the aggrieved family – I am simply a concerned, taxpaying resident of Knox County who would like to see justice served to the perpetrators of the crime against this young man.
Thank you for your consideration and prompt action.”
Dear Katie,
I am so sorry for your loss. Four years ago my cousin was murdered and it was one of the most devastating, heart breaking things our family has ever gone through. I’m not sure what else to say but I did want to you to know that we did get justice and I will pray for the same for Henry. If you ever need anything or a shoulder to cry on, please let me know. I will also say… take care of yourself. Let others who love you take care of you. I found that we were so wrapped up in the investigation and the trial that we didn’t really feel our loss until a year later. I hope the support of friends and family and your blog family will help you. Love, AG
What was done to poor sweet Henry was not right!! He was a child and he didn’t deserve this nor did his family. This poor baby was ripped from our lives and justice has not been served! Maybe he wasn’t perfect but no one is and he had a heart of gold. I hope the cops do something because i feel as if they don’t then people might take it into their own hands and it could turn out really ugly. *karma*
Katie,
David’s kept me up to date on Henry’s progress and I am so sorry it ended this way. Please know your family is in our prayers.
I followed a link from Suburban Correspondent’s blog to here. Sending warm thoughts and hugs your way while you cope with this horrible moment life has dealt you and your family.
Katie,
There are very few people in this world who have not had experience with addiction of one kind or another.But ther is NO EXCUSE for this child to have been beaten and left like a piece of tash on the side of the road, I am angry, very , very angry. I have already sent an email to CNN and to Nancy Grace, I got a response that they are going to give it their attention, but I don’t really know what that means. This deserves as much national media attention as the Natalee Holloway case got. And her mother is the one who made sure she kept the story in the forefront for the nation to see and to know about. Henry did not deserve to die, and he certainly deserves justice. I am telling everyone I know about this and I know you will fight and fight until someone pays for this devastating and horrific crime. I am keeping you in my prayers day and night. Your friend from Georgia (that you have never met!!) Terri
I am so very very sorry for your loss. I hope the assailants are brought to justice. There is no excuse for what they did.
Your story took my breath away, literally, especially after I read the one on Babble.
My son is 14 and has been in drug and alcohol counseling for the past couple of months and like you I have not been able to speak about it on my blog for fear of what people may think. He sees what he is doing as harmless experimentation. I see it as something far more, but in saying that with every good day he’s had, I’ve found myself giving into the thoughts of ‘he’s okay and doesn’t have a problem’. Your heartbreaking story has given me the kick up the butt that I needed to truly make sure that he will be okay.
Dear Katie,
I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful boy. Your story has reached so many people around the country, and we stand by you demanding justice. I’ve left a comment on the news story covering Henry’s death. I wish I could do more. I hope you realize that Henry is making a difference to so many people, even those who didn’t know him. Many parents, like me, learned so much from Henry’s story. Henry’s story has opened my eyes, made me aware how important it is to talk to my daughter about drugs when she is older (she is 5 now). What happened to Henry will help other parents and kids be more aware of the disastrous consequences of drug addiction. Thank you for sharing your story. Your family is in my prayers.
Before I went to sleep this morning, I made a post on my blog re-posting Henry’s memorial service & scholarship fund information, with similar comments to what I had posted on Facebook this morning to bring attention to Henry’s story. I wanted to make a point of it on Facebook because, unlike Twitter & blog-land, most of my FB friends are not bloggers or Knoxville/Nashville people and likely had not heard about it, plus the fact most of my FB friends are friends from HS and college that are now parents themselves (or becoming grandparents even).
In the course of posting this morning, I had pretty much finished the post and was about to hit publish but then I just couldn’t help being compelled to add a few paragraphs about how appalled I was by KCSO sitting on the case for over a month, and especially appalled by what was said to you when you inquired.
I will certainly expound on this post of yours some more and do some more commenting and contacting this week. The Blabbers are certainly as a whole angry and discussing as well, which I am sure you’re aware of.
I’ll add, too, what I told them yesterday when we were discussing KCSO’s lack of doing much about Henry’s case for over a month and KCSO in general -
From just a purely economic/civic standpoint, as someone who has been looking to purchase property in Knox County sometime in the next 1-3 years, the likelihood of us doing so is growing less and less and is absolutely because of things like this, the way KCSO has handled Henry’s case. When the time comes to buy, we are most definitely considering alternatives in neighboring counties.
And sadly Henry’s story is not the only story I’m aware of unsatisfactory or outright poor handling of a criminal case up there. Their failure to make major moves on cases like this is not only needlessly hurting families like yours – it’s hurting Knoxville and Knox County economically when people are making or leaning towards decisions like the one I/we’ve made.
I do so wish I could come to Knoxville this weekend for the service. You will all certainly be in my thoughts and prayers, pretty much forever.
I live across the country. You touched my life.
Katie, we share several mutual friends and I had been following your story on your blog. My children are hopefully not quite to the experimental drug stage, but we are already talking about drugs, but today I put a different spin on it. I told them “scary stories” about friends of mine and about Henry. I told them to imagine the happiest moment of their lives and the thing they love the most, and then imagine it was destroyed. I told them that is just the beginning of how I would feel if something to happen to them like happened to Henry. You, your family, and Henry are all making a difference.
It is a too-common attitude in law enforcement, that those who have addiction issues are somehow less worthy of justice.
I am a writer and a paralegal with considerable experience in criminal justice…please let me help, if you can think of a way for me to do so.
I’ve seen firsthand with my own mother how devastating it was for her to lose a child, and I just feel so damned bad for you, Katie, and your entire family. We too had a loved one murdered by a nameless, faceless villain and I understand all too well the need for some sort of justice.
My heart continues to at once crumple and go out to you. I’m spreading Henry’s story, as a Knoxville girl who lives all the way in Alaska to everyone I know with children and without.
I have written a letter to the KCSO. I hope they catch the thugs who did this and put them away for a very long time.
God bless you and your family in this time and I will say a prayer that you find comfort during this horrible time. May God bring those that harmed your son to justice.
Sheila Reed
Deepest condolences to you and yours, Katie. No way of understanding your pain, just an attempt to try and empathize any way possible.
Sending light and love to your whole family.
I’m stunned by the KCSO’s statements and ashamed for our community. With deepest love and respect to your family, Katie. Please take care.
Katie- I cannot begin to express how sorry I am for you and most especially Henry’s siblings. You and I don’t agree on much, but I’ve always known that our love for our children is that one true bond.
My husband’s mother passed away yesterday afternoon. After he called me, I thought of this verse. I hope it does not offend you that I paste it here. I started to post it last night for Lee, but it didn’t feel right. But maybe I was called to deliver it to you.
I love my children beyond words, and I try to remind myself so often that they aren’t mine, that God is just sharing them with me. I try to prepare myself that should some horrible tragedy like this happen, that I will see the greater purpose in my suffering, that I will answer. I think you are already doing that.
http://www.awitness.org/biblehtm/ec/ec3.htm