TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa family is grieving tonight after learning the body discovered Sunday near the Courtney Campbell Causeway is that of their missing teenager.
Eniola Olafemi, 16, was found in the water by detectives on Sunday, his grandmother Cathy Jackson tells 10 Tampa Bay. While police say there is no evidence of foul play, Jackson firmly believes her grandson was murdered.
“They say, ‘Miss Cathy, he's a genius. He needs to be in college,’” Jackson said, describing Olafemi as kind, athletic and intelligent. “He is so smart. I'm extremely proud of that.”
According to Jackson, Olafemi disappeared on Nov. 12 while on his way to school. She says she last saw him a week ago, but he never made it to class that day.
“They said he never came to school,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Oh my God. What do you mean he never came to school?’”
Desperate for answers, Jackson spent days putting up flyers in Tampa’s Jackson Heights neighborhood and filed a missing persons report. Then, on Sunday, her worst fears were realized when detectives informed her that a body matching Olafemi’s description had been found.
A fundraiser has been started to help Jackson, who adopted the teen and his siblings years ago, pay for his funeral.
“They were from the homicide division,” she recounted. “I grabbed my head. I said, ‘Oh my God, don’t tell me this.’”
She says detectives confirmed the identity of the body using dental records and told Jackson the cause of death remains unknown. They told her his face was disfigured from being in the water for around two days. They assured her there were no signs of trauma such as cuts, stab wounds, gunshots, or strangulation. Police also ruled out drowning.
“They don’t know how he died. They have no clue,” Jackson said.
Jackson maintains that her grandson’s death was no accident. She says he was a good swimmer, avoided drugs, and spent his free time playing basketball with neighborhood kids. She adds that detectives told her his cell phone pinged at the causeway and later at an apartment complex but wouldn’t tell her where. A relative told her the phone number has still been sending messages on WhatsApp.
“I think it’s a homicide,” she said. “I don’t care what they say. I think somebody killed him. How they killed him, I don’t know.”
This is not the first tragedy Jackson has endured. Her son was murdered six years ago in Tampa, a case that remains unsolved. Now, she faces the unimaginable pain of planning a funeral for her grandson.
“He was an awesome kid,” Jackson said. “He was wonderful, and I miss him.”
Tampa police continue to investigate Olafemi’s death. They are also looking into a second body discovered near the causeway on Monday but say the two cases do not appear to be connected.