The family of a Broward man is seeking justice after two suspects were arrested for his murder in Texas on Thursday.
Jayden DeJesus, 19, and Trevon Quinones, 19, are accused of killing Hunter Howell, 22, and leaving his body in a car at a boat ramp off US-27 in the Everglades on February 1st, police say.
“He got shot. They shot him. They shot him and tried to burn the evidence,” said Linda Howell, Hunter’s mother.
“He was Ubering everywhere, and he friended these two kids, and I don’t even know where. So for the last couple of months, he’d pay them 50 bucks, and they’d pick them up from work, or they take them to the bank, or they’d take them home to eat, whatever the case was, they took him, and they showed up all the time,” Linda said.
But Hunter’s family believes there was a tragic change.
“Then Saturday night, I guess, they called and said, ‘You want to go hang out?’ And he was like, ‘Sure, let me just change or whatever.’ And he gets in the car with them, and they drove him out there, I guess, after that, and murdered him and robbed him for, you know, whatever he had, and left him for dead, and tried to catch the car on fire, and he burned some up in the process, but it failed, because they shut the doors and the fire went out,” she said.
Now Hunter’s mom and sister wonder why someone would kill him.
“He was singing, he was making music. He was making beats,” Linda said.
“He was amazing, selfless, you know, he would give the shirt off his back. He was a great citizen,” his sister Cheyenne said.
BSO said the evidence led them to the suspects in Texas. Now, detectives are working to answer the question: why?
“Simply because an arrest is made does not mean that the investigation is over. In fact, this investigation is certainly active and ongoing as detectives are trying to figure out exactly what led to this homicide,” said BSO Spokesman Carey Codd.
Hunter’s family is waiting for that answer, too.
“The kid was a rising star, and anything he touched turned to just the best thing ever. He was magical. He was a sweet, sweet child, and I’ll miss him forever,” his mom said.
The next step in this process is to bring the suspects back to Florida from Texas. No word yet when they’ll be arriving at the jail in Fort Lauderdale.
