A boy was abused, malnourished and lived down the block. I should have known him. | Opinion
I did not know Jacarie Robinson, the 12-year-old boy whose malnourished and abused body was found badly decomposed in a home near 39th and Elmhurst, but I should have.
He lived just half-a-block away from my home in a gray-and-white house that I’ve passed hundreds of times alone this year.
An autopsy found Jacarie weighed just 54 pounds, was severely malnourished and had a broken upper arm and ribs. His father, Romuan J. Moye, 45, who fled after the body was discovered, has been charged in his son’s death.
I know most of the kids on my block either by name or the activities they are involved in. I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 46 years, and while the area has seen its share of changes, I can’t ever remember a case like this.
I know my neighbor’s kid two houses down can only ride his bike to our place and back or his grandmother will yell at him. I even cut her grass a few times.
Our newest neighbor has a 14-year-old who hops on his skateboard when he gets home from school and does crazy tricks off the speedhump until the streetlights come on.
A little girl on our block tries to play games with the bigger kids, but she usually falls and cries when they play hide and seek. She also has a piercing scream when she is excited. We are all so used to her cries that we know we can safely ignore them.
The kids are respectful. For the most part, we look out for one another.
A case like Jacarie's invariably raises questions. The only answer I’ve found is that we all need to do a better job of looking out for our neighbors, starting with myself. We’re all consumed with our lives and don’t always notice what happens around us. More effort must be made to pay attention and report things that seem out of place.
'They found a little boy dead in the house across from me'
Jacarie lived across the street from my childhood friend Darnell Shorter, who has lived there for nearly five decades.
Shorter called me the evening authorities discovered the boy and asked if I heard all the commotion. When I looked out my living room window, it was a sea of red and blue flashing lights.
“They found a little boy dead in the house across the street from me. They said his body had been in the house for a while. His body was decomposed,” Shorter said.
12-year-old found dead: Family has no answers after police find boy dead and malnourished in Milwaukee home
Shorter, 54, said the dad, Romuan Moye, came across as odd and standoffish and had no contact with neighbors. He would see Jacarie’s older sisters outside practicing dance moves, but he rarely saw the boy.
“The times I did see him, I thought he was their sister because he would have on a hoodie, and he was so skinny,” Shorter said.
Police said the home was in disarray. They found mold in the bathroom, kitchen sink, and refrigerator. The house had numerous bottles of urine, and the toilet was not working.
Jacarie’s sisters said they stayed with their mother for two weeks, and when they left their father's home, it was the last time they saw their brother. They said the boy was on punishment and could not leave the house. The three minor siblings living in the house were homeschooled.
Moye is charged with three chronic neglect of a child and one charge of failure to report death – all felonies. Additional charges are pending depending on future autopsy reports.
Questions that come from a case like this, and my answer
Jacarie’s death leaves his family members and neighbors with lots of questions:
How long was he living in these horrid conditions?
Why didn’t his siblings living in the house say anything?
How did so many people miss this?
Why hadn’t Jacarie seen his mother in three years?
Since his death, I have made more of an effort to know my neighbors. When I saw my next-door neighbor, Dennis, in his yard last week, I asked him how he was doing.
We discussed how something like this could happen in our neighborhood.
Dennis told me he suffered a mild stroke over the weekend and was hospitalized. My wife and I were shocked because we chatted with our neighbor frequently and would say hello to him when we saw him working in his yard or working on one of his cars.
We agreed that this was an excellent time to keep in better contact because unless you talk to people and get to know them, there is no way to know what they are going through.
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Jacarie’s family said he loved TikTok videos, professional wrestling, basketball, and football. Maybe if I had met him, I could have taught him how to throw a tight spiral, and he would have told me what he was experiencing.
Young people need advocates and more people to talk to, but neighbors must keep their eyes open and not be afraid to speak up when things don’t seem right.
Now that Jacarie is dead, many people talk about how strange his father acted.
Imagine if someone would have called the authorities to do a wellness check.
Little Jacarie may still be with us.
Unfortunately, there other Jacarie’s in our city who need our help. If you see something, or if something looks out of order, speak up. It could save a life. The life you save just might be closer to you than you think.
Reach James E. Causey at jcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X@jecausey.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee boy's gruesome death is a reminder to know your neighbors
