‘My baby is in a box.’ Mom brings her son’s ashes, pleads for help in finding his killer.
The black vinyl-encased box usually sits on her living room mantel with a white candle and two photos beside it.
On it, a simple white label with black lettering:
Herein are contained the Cremated Remains of Mendell Reginald Paul Butler-Lebel
On Tuesday, the brokenhearted mother brought her son’s ashes with her as she made a plea for information leading to his killer.
“I want people to see how real this is,” said Omorose Butler. “My baby is in a box. .... This is what my baby has been reduced to. This is what is happening every single day. Something has to be done.”
Butler-Lebel had been 17 for one day when he was murdered in a drive-by shooting outside his Miramar apartment on July 2, 2018. He was one of three people shot in the parking lot of Foxcroft Condominiums; the other two adults survived.
Police say tips have slowed and no one has been arrested.
On Tuesday, Butler announced a $100,000 reward, cobbled together by her friends and family cashing in retirement funds and savings.
It’s sad to say, but money talks, she said.
“My main objective in having this reward increased to $100,000 is so that this doesn’t happen to someone else,” said Butler, who wore a shirt with a photograph of her smiling son. “I am not doing this for justice for Mendell; I am doing it so there isn’t another Mendell.”
Butler grew up in Miramar and met Mendell’s father, Paul, at Miramar High. They were both 18 when Mendell was born. As young parents, Butler said both she and Mendell’s father grew up with their son.
Her son is the one who encouraged her stay in school. Her son helped with his younger siblings, a brother who is now 15 and a sister who is 9. Her son would tell her everything would be OK.
At midnight on July 1, 2018, Mendell walked into his mother’s room to tell her it was officially his 17th birthday. He wrapped his arms around his mother and told her how much he loved her.
In the morning, the family went to church and came home to his grandmother making him pancakes. His mother asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate. His answer: See the movie “Incredibles 2.” So about 15 family members headed to a nearby theater to watch the animated movie.
“He had been waiting forever to see it,” she said. “He loved it.”
They went home, had dinner, and said goodnight. Butler went to sleep because she had to get up early for work.
At about 5 p.m. the next day, she picked up her younger children from aftercare and came home to make dinner. Mendell wasn’t home yet because he was helping a friend with a flat tire. When he got home, she had a plate of yellow rice, steak and corn waiting for him.
He then started watching the movie “Thor: Ragnarok” with his aunt. He asked her to pause it when a neighbor called to see if he wanted to run to the convenience store with him. He liked going to the store to get soft drinks and snacks, because his mother didn’t keep any in the house. He told his mom he’d be right back.
Then came a knock at her door.
A neighbor said her son had been shot in the parking lot of the apartment complex. She called 911. Since she has a medical background, she gave her son CPR until police arrived. He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he died.
Police said a four-door silver sedan may be involved, but have not said much since. Butler said her son was not the target.
Police have not yet said who the target was, if there was one, because of the ongoing investigation. Det. Joe Tomlin said Mendell was one of four people hanging out in the parking lot.
“There is no doubt in my mind that multiple people know exactly what happened,” he said Tuesday. “With this additional reward money ... this should help with some information that could prove helpful in this investigation.”
Butler now spends her days wondering what could have been. Her son was about to start his senior year of high school and was enrolled in the school’s criminal justice program. He hoped to attend Florida State University and eventually become an attorney. She said every day she wakes up “with a heavy heart.”
“Every day when I wake up, it’s a constant reminder that I’m here, but he is not,” said Butler. “No parent should ever have to go through this.”
