It's hard to believe that something as small as a silver bracelet could have saved Joel.
It was about 3:30 in the afternoon May 14th that I headed home from Lakeland High School after searching for Heather's Senior Guidelines papers. Brandon was due home from school and I always feel the need to be there to greet him at the door. Heather headed across Bartow Rd. to Bonny Park to look for Joel. Brandon came through the door and asked, "Where's Joel?" as he did every day when he came home. It was the first thing out of his mouth every afternoon. Not hello dad or "I'm home, " it was, "Where's Joel?" Joel was usually out running and normally finished up about the same time Brandon came home. Then they'd go off together and I'd hear them laughing and talking about video games and other fun stuff. Joel had been spending less time at home though because he was spending more and more time with his new friends, Heather, Josh, and Adam. What Heather referred to as their "Secret Group." I read in one of his e-mails to Heather that he wanted to invite a girl he had met into their "Group". Heather said no that she didn't trust her. It turns out that Heather had no friends who were girls. She had only guy friends. Joel replied to her e-mail that she invited him into the group. She said he was different and was accepted by the other two in the group.
So I told Brandon I didn't know where Joel was because he didn't come home from school yet. After Heather had left with Josh's papers and after I had called her it became more clear that Joel was missing. I was confused on what to do. My parents were coming over with pizza and I didn't want to alarm them. I didn't know where to start looking for Joel anyway. Well it turns out Josh had to walk home from school that day. His direct route home was South on Bartow Rd where within the first hundred yards he found a silver bracelet on the sidewalk. It was the silver bracelet Heather had given Joel. It was obviously his bracelet because it had the word, "Senior" as part of its make up reflecting Joel's "Senior" year of high school. So Josh found Joel's bracelet South of the school parking lot on the sidewalk on Bartow Rd which would have meant Joel was headed South on Bartow Rd. and was apparently ahead of Josh. Josh called Heather and told her about the bracelet. This was information she withheld from me as well as the information that Joel had told her which garbage can she could find his backpack in. I thought it odd that the first thing she said to me when I called her to tell her Joel was dead was for her to ask if he was wearing any jewelry. I found out about the bracelet and backpack a week after Joel died. While I was helping Heather find those papers because I knew how important they were for her to graduate, she withheld information that could have led to Joel.
The Principal from LHS called me Monday the 18th and said a janitor found Joel's backpack in the trash can where Heather first looked. He turned it in before we got there to look for her papers. I sat across the desk from her and she asked a few questions I don't remember. She then told me she had the backpack and that Heather, Josh and Adam tried to claim it. She said they told her they were going to see me later that day and they'd bring it to me. She said they were quite persistent but she didn't let them have it. In Joel's backpack were things they didn't want me to find. Notes they passed back and forth to each other. A deck of tarot cards and Joel's red journal. I later found out from Josh that Heather was the only one who didn't ask where they found the backpack. She already knew. My suspicions of these kids were mounting.
1:18 Thursday, May 14th: Joel's last conversation. It's in the phone records. His last call was to Heather. It lasted five minutes and one second. 1:18 Joel's seventh period had already started. He wasn't in it. He had already started his walk. I can only imagine what Heather was screaming at him over the phone. I know this because a few weeks after he died I called the phone company and had his password reset so I could listen to his messages. The first message was from Heather. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "Goddammit Joel, you know I need those fucking papers to graduate. You said you were going to do it for me." Fucking this and fuckng that. The second message was from Josh Conley. Same thing from him. Was Joel supposed to do his Senior Project for him too? Third message was Heather again. Again with the screaming and foul language. The fourth message was from Adam Chauncey telling Joel to call him that he was worried. Joel was already dead and no one knew. I had talked with Adam via Instant Message Friday morning asking him if he knew where Joel was. He said Joel was leaving and headed South. The fifth message was from Heather. Crying she said, "I love you Joel." Only she never told him that while he was alive. He said it to her all the time but she never replied.
1:18 Joel started his walk. 2:10 Josh found Joel's bracelet just South of the school. 3:15 I was with Heather and she withheld this information. Adam Chauncey knew Joel had planned to leave and head South. And no one told me.
