IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS/ Family, friends wonder why teen didn't reach

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 6, 2002 | by Cary Leider Vogrin

On the morning of July 26, detectives were watching Jeff. He apparently was staying near Falcon with a girl who Cristy said he recently met.

The detectives followed the girl's vehicle into town. Jeff evidently figured out who was behind them.

"It's wide open out there," said Dale Fox, the robbery detective assigned to the case.

"The traffic was sparse enough, and we knew there was little chance of following him and not being spotted. This wasn't top- secret, surreptitious-type surveillance. Basically what we were doing is escorting him into town."

It was about noon when police followed the girl's vehicle to King's neighborhood and pulled it over at Otero Park, near Barnes Road and Oro Blanco Drive.

"As soon as I hit my red and blue lights, they stopped," Fox said.

"We heard the shot as we opened the doors. We never had a chance to reason with him or attempt to."

One of Jeff's friends called Debi not long afterward. He wanted to know if it was true Jeff was dead. It was the first Debi had heard. Terry flew home from Texas that night.

Jeff's friends put up a memorial of balloons and silk flowers near the park where he died.

Debi and Terry think Jeff was scared and confused, more scared of jail than he was of killing himself.

"I don't think he thought we would have helped him," Debi said, adding she thinks they went "overboard" on the tough love.

"They put on this hard shell that they don't want anyone to penetrate," Terry said.

"They may act like adults, but they're still kids. He wasn't perfect, and we weren't proud of some of the things he did, but we did love him - very much."

Debi wants kids to know there's nothing so serious they can't confide in their parents. To parents, a grieving mother offers this advice: "Love them unconditionally."

- Cary Leider Vogrin may be reached at 636-0182 or cary@gazette.com

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