WARREN - For the second time in a month, the Parents of Murdered Children flag was raised Monday outside the Trumbull County Jail.
Zeboney Bess, 17, of Warren was shot in the head and killed July 14 while walking along the 2000 block of Hamilton Street S.W.
''I'm going to miss her a lot. She was going to take me swimming,'' said Zalyn Bess, 10, Zeboney's nephew.
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Zeboney's older sister, Zandra Bess, said the family is taking things ''one day at a time.'' She said her sister was working on finishing her GED and had plans to join the Air Force.
''I still break down a couple times a day. Somebody needs to get brought down for this,'' the sister said, following the brief service next to the flagpole led by crime victim advocate Miriam Fife.
According to police, Zeboney Bess had been receiving threatening text messages from someone with whom she had been in a relationship. Police said she was on the phone when she was shot, and a woman who called 911 to report the shooting said she heard Bess arguing before hearing gunshots, according to family members.
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Zalyn Bess, 10, of Warren, center, talks about his aunt, murder victim, Zeboney Bess, in photo on left, after the Parents of Murdered Children flag was raised Monday. Listening are Zandra Bess, holding photo, and Monica Davis, right, both sisters of victim Zeboney Bess; and Keyon Thompson, nephew to the victim, lower right.
Photo by R. Michael Semple
No arrests have been made , but police are investigating.
Because of another youth's death, it was unknown whether a similar flag would be ready to raise in front of the Warren police station.
''It's the first time we've had two tragic deaths this close together,'' said Fife, who also is a member of Parents of Murdered Children, the group that designed the flag.
One Parents of Murdered Children flag traditionally is flown at the courthouse and another in front of the police station in the community where the youth died.
The flag Fife was waiting to raise at the Warren police station was still in Newton Falls where it had been flying in memory of a 15-year-old boy who was killed July 6.
The flag arrived from Newton Falls in time to make it to its next destination.
It was only July 19 that the same flag was displayed in observance of the July 6 murder of Everett Greathouse, 15, who was shot to death along with his mother, Kathy Cogley and stepfather Rikki Cogley Sr.
Police say the couple, Greathouse and Tracey Engler were all killed by Engler's boyfriend, Rob Brazzon, 55, who then killed himself.