Ryan Rogers (14) found murdered in the grass off I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens, FL

[raisedbywolves]

I am wondering if they think another kid did it.

https://www.wesh.com/article/palm-be...icide/38352648

Palm Beach Gardens Police revealed the homicide of 14-year-old Ryan Rogers "was not an accident, but a deliberate act" Wednesday.

[Boston Babe 73]

It's incidents like these that make society think that all homeless people are violent. You don't see them reporting that the offender had a home every time a murder happens, but they're sure quick to report when it's someone who's homeless.

[KimTisha]

OMG, guys.... this is so tragic on so many levels. At first I was suspect of the quick arrest of a homeless guy in this "totally random" murder w/no witnesses. But it looks like it was indeed, totally random. I'm afraid poor Ryan crossed paths with a severely mentally ill man with paranoid delusions. This is so sad. He was posting videos about people following him "illegally" right around the time of Ryan's murder.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...year-old-teen/

Accused murderer?s YouTube diary may trace own trail in killing of teen
Does Semmie Lee Williams? own video diary, plus surveillance video retrace steps?

MIAMI, Fla. ? Semmie Lee Williams Jr. is the man who investigators say stabbed a 14-year-old Palm Beach Gardens teen multiple times, leaving the boy?s body in a wooded area near an Interstate 95 overpass.

Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Clint Shannon said Williams, 39, was a homeless drifter who spent most of his time on the streets of Miami.

On a YouTube channel ? a video diary that Williams had allegedly been keeping ? a posting on Nov. 16, appears to be taken aboard a Tri-Rail train. The arrest form, while it doesn?t specifically state the manner of travel, says that there was evidence to show that Williams traveled to Palm Beach County on Nov. 15 and returned to Miami on Nov. 16.

The video diary documents a mind consumed with paranoid thoughts of conspiracy.

The raspy voice that is likely Semmie Lee Williams documents alleged killers trail as well as his thoughts.
In one video, the raspy voice that is most likely that of Williams, can be heard saying that ?they have been having people ride by me on bicycles.?

On Nov. 15 at 6:40 p.m., investigators say Ryan Rogers left his home in Palm Beach Gardens on his bike. At 10:30 p.m., his mother, Cindy, reported him missing.

Video surveillance showed what investigators say was an individual walking northbound on Central Boulevard at 7:20 p.m. The subject was walking toward the victim. ?The two would have crossed paths at approximately 7:31 p.m.?

Data recovered from Ryan Rogers? cellphone revealed that the teen ?stopped traveling? at approximately 7:31 p.m., according to the arrest form.

In the video diary, the voice says that ?they are illegally following me.? He describes a location in the video recorded Nov. 15, which is about six miles from where the boy?s body was found.

There?s another video which shows the grounds of Camillus House, a non-profit that provides services and programs to the homeless community in Miami.

The individual in the video says he?s been discriminated and harassed in the shower and also mentions Camillus House by name.

A spokesperson from Camillus House told Local 10 News that Williams was never a resident, but that he had started coming into the facility in late October for a daycare service, which provides showers and fresh clothing.

The spokesperson said that everyone who enters the facility is screened to ensure they have no drugs or weapons and that records show that staff has not had issues with Williams while he was at the facility.

The last day Williams was at Camillus House, according to the spokesperson, was Nov. 24.

The address on the arrest form where Williams was taken into custody is Keralty Hospital in West Miami. Administration at the hospital would not confirm or deny to Local 10 News that the arrest was made at the hospital or whether or not Williams was a patient or a visitor there. That remains a mystery.

Copyright 2021 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

[KimTisha]

This entire article chipped me off.

1. Twelve criminal charges, only four considered violent (3 Assaults - two of them DV). One of the charges was downgraded and one charge dropped - so, ONE assault, one lesser charge, and possession of a taser. The assaults date back to "the early 2000's." For a man who has been living on the streets for years, I would expect there to be some incidents involving property and assault. I don't think it's that big of a record. And yet....

2. The former prosecutor (now criminal defense attorney) acknowledges the videos suggest paranoid delusion and mental illness, and then says "this monster was out on the street when obviously, clearly, he shouldn?t have been." I'm glad he's not a prosecutor anymore, but I pity his criminal defense clients.

Wondering.... was McKamey one of the PBC prosecutors who let Jeffrey Epstein walk?


https://cbs12.com/news/cbs12-news-i-...iminal-history

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (CBS12) ? The CBS 12 News I Team is digging deeper into the criminal history of the man Palm Beach Gardens Police say killed 14-year-old Ryan Rogers.

Semmie Lee Williams Jr., 39, is a drifter. Records show he has moved around a lot and his life has been chaotic and violent.

Police released some of what they discovered about his past in a media handout at a Thursday press conference announcing his arrest.

From 2004 to 2016 there were at least 12 criminal charges.

The crimes happening in 3 states.

Here are the ones that speak to a danger to society.

An assault involving strangulation. In that case, the victim was a senior citizen.
2 domestic assaults.
Carrying a concealed electronic weapon.

The CBS 12 News I Team looked at records from Seminole County Florida and Fulton County Georgia.

In his own handwriting, in a letter Williams sent to the court, he claimed self-defense in the confrontation with the senior citizen.

It appears to have worked as the charges were then downgraded.

In other court documents we obtained, we see that Williams signed a guilty plea to the lesser charges, and the sentence would be 10 years, of which he?d serve 5, then be placed on probation.

Going back further, in the early 2000s, when he was about to face trial for one of the domestic assaults in Florida, records show Williams refused to get dressed to go to court.

A few weeks later, prosecutors decided not to proceed to trial.

"When you are dealing with people who are living on the street, often the victims they?re dealing with are fellow homeless people, people with mental health issues, it's not someone you can send a subpoena to at a certain address and have them appear in court, to see justice is done... it gets complicated when you're dealing with homeless person committing violent acts and it looks like this person was homeless and moving all around the country," Patrick McKamey told the I Team.

McKamey is a former prosecutor in Palm Beach County - now a criminal defense attorney.

We showed McKamey Williams? criminal history and he says, it doesn't matter what complications prosecutors encountered. He says they should have been more heavy-handed, he says the pattern of violence is alarming and blatant.

"How did this guy fall through the cracks and why was he ever let out?" McKamey said, "Because someone at first appearance should have said 'listen we don?t have convictions on all of these cases but there is a serious problem here, this guy has an extremely violent history,maybe he?s mentally ill.' "

And McKamey says extremely high bonds or no bonds should have been used to keep Williams off the streets.


And about the possibility of mental illness, police say they became aware of a YouTube account Williams updated daily. Using his cellphone to take videos- often of strangers he encounters on the street.

We showed McKamey the Youtube page and he says these videos suggest paranoid delusions, he says he saw it often as a prosecutor.

Williams was posting videos about people stalking him, conspiring against him, cults out to get him.

There are even Youtube videos from around the time Ryan Rogers was killed that investigators used to firm up his location back on November 15 and 16h when Rogers disappeared and was killed.

"This monster was out on the street when obviously, clearly, he shouldn?t have been," McKamey said.

McKamey says the death penalty could be sought in the Williams case.

The I Team asked about use of an insanity plea. McKamey says the prosecution could easily argue if he's savvy enough to be posting to Youtube, there is not diminished capacity, and he knows right from wrong.

[Boston Babe 73]

This entire article chipped me off.

1. Twelve criminal charges, only four considered violent (3 Assaults - two of them DV). One of the charges was downgraded and one charge dropped - so, ONE assault, one lesser charge, and possession of a taser. The assaults date back to "the early 2000's." For a man who has been living on the streets for years, I would expect there to be some incidents involving property and assault. I don't think it's that big of a record. And yet....

2. The former prosecutor (now criminal defense attorney) acknowledges the videos suggest paranoid delusion and mental illness, and then says "this monster was out on the street when obviously, clearly, he shouldn?t have been." I'm glad he's not a prosecutor anymore, but I pity his criminal defense clients.

Wondering.... was McKamey one of the PBC prosecutors who let Jeffrey Epstein walk?


https://cbs12.com/news/cbs12-news-i-...iminal-history

Blame the mental health system. Not the fact that he was homeless. That's the real issue here.

Society doesn't want to pony up to help these folks, then this is what happens. We don't shit on people with cancer, why do we ignore that mental health is just as serious a disease as that? No, instead we shuffle them off and expect the issue to disappear.

What do people think happens to people with mental health issues? They can't work and even if they're functioning nobody will hire them. Rent isn't free. They end up on the streets with no way to control their issues and nobody to help.

[KimTisha]

Blame the mental health system. Not the fact that he was homeless. That's the real issue here.

Society doesn't want to pony up to help these folks, then this is what happens. We don't shit on people with cancer, why do we ignore that mental health is just as serious a disease as that? No, instead we shuffle them off and expect the issue to disappear.

What do people think happens to people with mental health issues? They can't work and even if they're functioning nobody will hire them. Rent isn't free. They end up on the streets with no way to control their issues and nobody to help.

Exactly. Society USED to pony up, at least in NJ where I grew up. My neighbor's only child, a son, was institutionalized for years at a "training center" near home. The situation wasn't ideal, but they could visit Jimmy and he could visit them on occasion. He was really happy there and was traumatized when the institution closed in the early-90s(?) and he was sent to live with his elderly parents who couldn't handle his needs. When they died, he lost the house because, mental illness - and ended up on the street, where he died. I would have much rather seen Jimmy die in peace and dignity at the training center, because there was no dignity at all in the way he died on the street and went unidentified for years.

Rest in peace, Jimmy...

[Boston Babe 73]

I'm just going to put this out there as something that I think the general public needs to understand.

Homelessness is a major issue and you can't just "group" all homeless people in to a "race/demographic/social construct". EVEN MORE SO now with the pandemic.

Society LOVES to use the term " Homeless" as a label for someone "Lesser ” or " Criminal" or "They want to be there" or "Druggie".

The fact of the matter is the statistics speak for themselves. Homeless people are MUCH MORE susceptible to being victims of violent crime than those that are housed. 99% of serial killers in America WEREN'T homeless. The MAJORITY of violent crimes were committed by PEOPLE THAT HAD HOMES. The majority of homeless are mentally ill with zero help from our government. A LARGE majority are veterans that DIDN'T get the help that they needed after serving our country. The VAST majority never touched drugs until they landed there because between having that being your new reality and those suffering from delusions TURN to street drugs to either deal with living in a tent or as an alternative to prescription drugs to " stop the voices ".

Fun fact: The MAJORITY of prescription drugs that people receive for mental illness are DIRECTLY related to street drugs. Just repackaged with a different name to make it white ahem....I mean.... Right enough for society.

I've spent the better last decade WITH the homeless in person learning these truths. I've spent time with them, fed them, talked to them and many are Facebook friends of mine that I regularly check up on. I've been a founder of a homeless organization, I've helped bathe them and given them the resources they've needed ONE ON ONE. Not just in the grocery store on checkout where you're asked to " Give a family Christmas dinner ". Btw, it's not just once per year they need to eat.

Unless you're part of the solution, stop being part of the problem. Sorry. But this had to be said because I'm SUPER annoyed by this story and how it's being handled.

/rant