LAKE CITY, Fla. — Breaking the street code of silence is challenging for police. Yet, police say doing just that will play a vital role in solving a teenager’s cold case murder from 2019.
In a brown shoebox, Janeasha Taylor takes out photos to recount the life of her nephew, Jordan Freeman. The 6,577 days he spent on this Earth were lost in just one afternoon.
‘”My baby didn’t get a chance to live his life,” says Jordan’s mother, Tokeysha Patterson. ”He was only 18 a week, a week!”
Patterson says she can still feel the pain of Aug. 17, 2019. Jordan had gone to play video games with his older brother at the Windsong Apartments in Lake City.
While there, Patterson says he planned on meeting up with some friends, and his older brother offered to come with him.
“Jordan was like 'no, I’m grown. I’ll be back, I’ll be back'. We are still waiting for my baby to come back,” tells Patterson.
According to Lake City Police, around 2:45 in the afternoon, Jordan and three friends were on the second story breezeway of building 10 when a man in all black with a silver mask ran up the stairs.
“From all accounts, what we were told, it was a robbery gone bad,” tells Sgt. Kevin Johns with the Lake City Police Department.
Investigators say the suspect approached the group and felt their pockets, but when he approached Jordan, a fight occurred. It ended with a gunshot, Jordan was shot once in the head. The killer then ran down the stairs and across the complex.
“It was extremely frustrating and still is, this happened in broad daylight in a busy apartment complex,” tells Johns.
And yet, information was scarce.
“Middle of the day, people are out and nobody sees anything. Nobody can help us, which way he[the suspect] went what he did here or anything,” tells Johns. ”We have gotten little to no help from outside sources.”
The initial report on Jordan’s murder details the difficulty investigators had gathering information at the scene. Police say one of the young men with Jordan changed his story several times, people refused to put their statements in writing and others were uncooperative with the investigation.
“With a whole apartment of people, somebody saw something,” tells Jordan’s grandmother, Valerie Taylor.
Jordan’s grandparents and aunts say they try to not be angry, but they know people have information they aren’t telling.
Jordan’s aunt, Janeasha Taylor, says after Jordan’s murder a Facebook account began posting disturbing things, like a screenshot of an article about Jordan’s murder with the caption “Guess who did it”.
“Some of the guys rumored to be involved in it, they had another guy’s Facebook saying he did it, and you know making fun of him,” tells Taylor.
We aren’t naming the account since no charges have been filed, but Taylor says she began exchanging direct messages with the account, which she provided to us, and it gave a detailed description of what happened, including information about the fight and that the shooter’s brother picked up the shell casings, and they ran.
Taylor says she told police about this in 2019, but didn’t hear back. We sent a copy of the messages over to Lake City Police, and they said it does provide new leads for them to follow.
“He had so much potential, so much potential, and it’s sad,” says Patterson.
Jordan’s family just wants to see someone held accountable for taking his life and taking away their future with him.
A young man who wanted to become a welder, described as helpful, thoughtful and full of laughs. The baby of the family.
“Even if they don’t catch him, they still got to pay for it. They didn’t get away with it, they still got to stand before the same man we all got to stand before,” tells Patterson.
Investigators are urging the public to come forward with tips and there is a reward of $9,500 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the person responsible.
“This family had to bury an 18-year-old child. When it is a child, I feel like the community should step up more,” tells Sgt. Johns.
Break the silence and finally give Jordan’s family the closure they’ve been waiting for.
“I would just like them to put themselves in my shoes and say something because I can’t get closure, I can’t even go to his gravesite,” tells his mother through tears. "And I know it bothers them, just come clean.”
If you know anything about the murder of Jordan Freeman, please contact Crime Stoppers of Columbia County at 386-754-7099 or submit a tip on the web at www.columbiacrimestoppers.net.