There are no twinkling holiday lights or inflatable Christmas characters decorating Lauralie Webbe’s North Naples home this year.
A holiday light projector box sits opened on the floor near her dining table. She can’t bring herself to put it outside.
The living room corner where she and her family install their Christmas tree is empty.
Still reeling from losing her son to a bullet in July, there’s isn’t much for her to celebrate.
Larimar Webbe’s body was found in the driveway of a home in the 3000th block of Golden Gate Boulevard West in Golden Gate Estates the morning of July 31. He was 21 years old.
“The thing that I want most, which is him, here, I can’t have,” Lauralie Webbe said. “I know I have my two other children. They’re alive, healthy and grown up. But it feels odd to try to celebrate Christmas when he’s not here with us.”
Larimar was hanging out with friends in Collier and Lee counties the day before he died. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the homicide and hopes it won’t turn into a cold case.
Homicide investigators believe the people Larimar was with 24 hours before he died might have important information about the case. Investigators are asking those people to come forward.
While many families celebrate this joyous time of year with all their loved ones under one roof, the Webbes are mourning the member of their “Perfect Five” who never came home.
“I feel stuck,” Lauralie Webbe said. “It’s like going through it all over again when I come home and realize he’s not here. These feelings are unpredictable. Sometimes I feel physically sick. It’s more than a broken heart. Losing him is physically painful.”
Larimar might not be here in flesh, but he’s everywhere in the Webbe home — from the photos on the walls to his room left untouched.
His parents keep an urn filled with most of his ashes on their entertainment center in the living room — the center of the house.
Larimar’s father carries some of his remains in a pendant necklace. Larry Webbe never takes the necklace off.
“He’s with me all the time,” he said. “Close to my heart.”
Larry Webbe’s life is consumed by an amber of painful mathematics.
His perfect first born came into the world at 11:10 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 31/4 ounces and measured 197/8 inches in length.
Larimar died four days short of his 22nd birthday.
Eighty-eight days before his father’s 44th birthday.
“That’s what I do,” Larry Webbe said. “Count the days. Do the math. Think about the numbers.”
On Saturdays, Larimar’s parents took him from sporting event to sporting event — soccer, karate, baseball — then crashed in bed at the end of the day.
Their boy, affectionately known as Chiqui, was the first karate student to be promoted to black belt in St. Thomas.
After graduating from Barron Collier High School in 2012, he enrolled at Florida SouthWestern State College’s fire science technology program.
He was also studying to become a real estate agent. The last time he drove around town with his dad, he went to real estate offices in downtown Naples to collect business cards and make connections for future work.
“My son was bright,” Larry Webbe said. “He could talk to anyone about anything — politics, history, geography. I’m twice his age and he knew more than I do.”
What the Webbes miss most is the spirited presence of a young man who loved his family more than anything.
The last time he saw his sister, he told her how beautiful she was. The last time he talked to his mother, he said, “Love you, ma.”
