01-03-2011, 09:07 AM
Houston Chronicle 1/3/11
When Jonathan Paul Foster is buried in South Park Cemetery in Pearland on Tuesday, he will be the first interred in a family plot that will someday hold his grandparents.
That Jonathan eventually will rest with his family offered a little solace to relatives of the 12-year-old boy killed on Christmas Eve, his remains charred and left in a drainage culvert in Houston.
By all accounts, it is an unspeakably sad end for a boy whose family members described him as deeply loving and affectionate. Even after bouncing from house to house in his 12 years — living with his mother, his grandmother and an uncle — he still had the trust of an innocent child.
"He was just so sweet and submissive, always looking for a hug," said Glenn Scrimsher, 33, Jonathan's uncle who raised him from the time he was 6 until a year ago, when his grandmother, Mary Gifford, sent for him in Channelview. "I bet he didn't even put up a fight."
Jonathan's grisly slaying touched even the most veteran homicide detectives, who said the little boy clung to his manners and trust in adults to the end. In the last phone call to his mother, Jonathan was overheard calling his suspected captor "ma'am."
A birthday wish nearly two months ago - that he return to his mother - placed Jonathan into an orbit that included shady characters in an impoverished pocket of Garden Oaks in northwest Houston. There, the forces of his tiny transient life appeared to doom him.
On Christmas Eve, just weeks after moving back with his mother for the first time since he was 6 years old, Jonathan spent the morning alone drinking milk, eating Tootsie Rolls, and playing computer games as TV cartoons droned on in the background.
By 6 p.m., a truck allegedly driven by Mona Yvette Nelson, a 44-year-old maintenance worker, was captured on a video camera dumping Jonathan's small, seared body next to a metal works plant.
But it would take four more days before police reconstructed Jonathan's last moments, before they concluded his body most likely was burned with welding torches at a northeast Houston apartment.
Jonathan was born Nov. 9, 1998, in Corsicana. His mother, Angela Renee Davis, said that as a newborn, he pulled his little legs up to his chest, and straightened them out, like a little frog. His aunt gave him the nickname on the spot.
Davis' relationship with her then-husband, Richard Foster, quickly deteriorated to the point of divorce. The last time Jonathan saw his father he was 4 years old, Davis said. The last time he spoke with him Jonathan was 6, and his father said he didn't want anything to do with his son, she said.
After the divorce, she remarried and divorced several times, and was arrested on a minor drug charge and later a probation violation. Child Protective Services was called twice to investigate allegations into physical abuse and neglect of Jonathan and his half-sister, who is now 10. But CPS closed the cases after finding the children were not in her direct care because they were living with relatives.
"I ran into some bad problems at a younger age, and instead of being one of those mothers that let their kids watch them go downhill, I made sure my kids were safe," said Davis, 31. "I didn't want them to see it."
Jonathan spent much of his young life with his uncle and his five kids on a farm in Missouri, where the boy grew watermelon, rode dirt bikes and caught his first fish. He fell in love with his family's horse, Valentino, a Palomino. While he lived with his uncle, his mother visited once, Scrimsher said, but Jonathan saw his grandparents frequently.
In November 2009, his grandmother sent for him, and Scrimsher reluctantly let him go. By the time Jonathan asked his grandmother if he could go live with his mother in November in Houston, Davis was working a steady job and felt ready to take her son back.
"I work six days a week, over 60 hours a week," she said Wednesday, when she still had hope of seeing her son again. "I'm doing the best I can to raise my son."
Davis enrolled Jonathan at Durham Elementary School, where the principal said he was bright and sweet and quickly befriended a boy who didn't have any friends.
"He always was trying to help somebody. He felt like he was a man because he fixed a little girl's bicycle chain," Davis said. "He was full of life."
On Dec. 14, just weeks after moving in with his mother, his stepfather, David Davis, slapped him across the face, Angela Davis said. She said she immediately packed up Jonathan and moved into a cottage next to the apartment complex where her friend Sharon Ennamorato lived.
The home was a frequent stop for Nelson, who also was friends with Ennamorato
When Jonathan Paul Foster is buried in South Park Cemetery in Pearland on Tuesday, he will be the first interred in a family plot that will someday hold his grandparents.
That Jonathan eventually will rest with his family offered a little solace to relatives of the 12-year-old boy killed on Christmas Eve, his remains charred and left in a drainage culvert in Houston.
By all accounts, it is an unspeakably sad end for a boy whose family members described him as deeply loving and affectionate. Even after bouncing from house to house in his 12 years — living with his mother, his grandmother and an uncle — he still had the trust of an innocent child.
"He was just so sweet and submissive, always looking for a hug," said Glenn Scrimsher, 33, Jonathan's uncle who raised him from the time he was 6 until a year ago, when his grandmother, Mary Gifford, sent for him in Channelview. "I bet he didn't even put up a fight."
Jonathan's grisly slaying touched even the most veteran homicide detectives, who said the little boy clung to his manners and trust in adults to the end. In the last phone call to his mother, Jonathan was overheard calling his suspected captor "ma'am."
A birthday wish nearly two months ago - that he return to his mother - placed Jonathan into an orbit that included shady characters in an impoverished pocket of Garden Oaks in northwest Houston. There, the forces of his tiny transient life appeared to doom him.
On Christmas Eve, just weeks after moving back with his mother for the first time since he was 6 years old, Jonathan spent the morning alone drinking milk, eating Tootsie Rolls, and playing computer games as TV cartoons droned on in the background.
By 6 p.m., a truck allegedly driven by Mona Yvette Nelson, a 44-year-old maintenance worker, was captured on a video camera dumping Jonathan's small, seared body next to a metal works plant.
But it would take four more days before police reconstructed Jonathan's last moments, before they concluded his body most likely was burned with welding torches at a northeast Houston apartment.
Jonathan was born Nov. 9, 1998, in Corsicana. His mother, Angela Renee Davis, said that as a newborn, he pulled his little legs up to his chest, and straightened them out, like a little frog. His aunt gave him the nickname on the spot.
Davis' relationship with her then-husband, Richard Foster, quickly deteriorated to the point of divorce. The last time Jonathan saw his father he was 4 years old, Davis said. The last time he spoke with him Jonathan was 6, and his father said he didn't want anything to do with his son, she said.
After the divorce, she remarried and divorced several times, and was arrested on a minor drug charge and later a probation violation. Child Protective Services was called twice to investigate allegations into physical abuse and neglect of Jonathan and his half-sister, who is now 10. But CPS closed the cases after finding the children were not in her direct care because they were living with relatives.
"I ran into some bad problems at a younger age, and instead of being one of those mothers that let their kids watch them go downhill, I made sure my kids were safe," said Davis, 31. "I didn't want them to see it."
Jonathan spent much of his young life with his uncle and his five kids on a farm in Missouri, where the boy grew watermelon, rode dirt bikes and caught his first fish. He fell in love with his family's horse, Valentino, a Palomino. While he lived with his uncle, his mother visited once, Scrimsher said, but Jonathan saw his grandparents frequently.
In November 2009, his grandmother sent for him, and Scrimsher reluctantly let him go. By the time Jonathan asked his grandmother if he could go live with his mother in November in Houston, Davis was working a steady job and felt ready to take her son back.
"I work six days a week, over 60 hours a week," she said Wednesday, when she still had hope of seeing her son again. "I'm doing the best I can to raise my son."
Davis enrolled Jonathan at Durham Elementary School, where the principal said he was bright and sweet and quickly befriended a boy who didn't have any friends.
"He always was trying to help somebody. He felt like he was a man because he fixed a little girl's bicycle chain," Davis said. "He was full of life."
On Dec. 14, just weeks after moving in with his mother, his stepfather, David Davis, slapped him across the face, Angela Davis said. She said she immediately packed up Jonathan and moved into a cottage next to the apartment complex where her friend Sharon Ennamorato lived.
The home was a frequent stop for Nelson, who also was friends with Ennamorato