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sunspotbaby

SoWal Insider
Mar 31, 2006
5,010
739
Santa Rosa Beach
Here is Toombs county local reports on the service yesterday.

http://www.wtoc.com/Global/story.asp?S=14959338
Teammates of Courtney Wilkes wore their Toombs County High soccer uniforms to her funeral to remember the girl who gave her all to everything she did. Others called her a community leader in so many ways.
"Courtney was number one in her class, a great student. Very well rounded, she attended church, she played sports," said Chari Smith, a TCHS parent.
Folks covered Vidalia and Lyons in white ribbons to remember the 15-year-old girl killed last week while she vacationed with her parents in Florida. The crime has shocked everyone.
"I have a 16 year old. It could have been my child," said Cindy Hendrix, one of Courtney's teachers this past year. "This family was kind and caring and this child was too."
Even people who didn't know her stood reverently on the street outside First Baptist Church to show their support.
"If it was my child, I'd just want to know that people care to show up and support the family," said Brooke Fulmer, in a voice choked with emotion.
Maybe the most touching sight outside the service was the Walton County Sheriff's Office patrol cars, from the Florida community where Courtney was killed. Those investigators wouldn't talk about the case, just the heart break of it.
"We got to know this family from dealing with them after this offense occurred," said Major Graham Fountain. "We got to know them and they developed a special place in our hearts."
Some at the funeral said their hearts are broken by an evil that took an innocent girl's life and the innocents of their community.
"I feel angry. I'm a Christian woman but I feel angry. I feel the sense of loss for this family and for everyone," said Hendrix.
She said that loss will be felt for a long time. Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Florida man charged in Courtney's murder remains in jail.

http://www.thecoastalsource.com/mos...lkes-laid-to-rest/1R0A8dzYA029ajoroC5PZQ.cspx

A Toombs County girl murdered in Florida last week was laid to rest Wednesday.
Courtney Wilkes, 15, was killed during a family vacation in Walton County on June 16. Steven Anthony Cozzie, a 21-year-old native of Florida, is charged with her murder.

Wednesday, hundreds escorted Wilkes to her final resting place. It was a funeral that came much too soon, devastating a family and people all over Toombs County. But, when the time came to lay Courtney Wilkes to rest, these folks were ready.

Her Toombs County High School soccer teammates made walls to escort her casket from the First Baptist Church of Vidalia to the hearse. Ribbons, balloons and supporters lined the procession route.

"I've been going to church all my life, I've attended many funerals, and it was the most awesome service I have ever been to," Lisa McCormick said. The Wilkes family frequented her gym, located across from First Baptist, and her husband taught Courtney at Vidalia Heritage Academy. "Courtney spoke, that was her funeral and she really spoke."

The star student and athlete was killed last week during a family vacation. Even the men charged with bringing Courtney's killer to justice took pause to mourn.

"We've gotten to know the Wilkes family," Lt. Michael Howell, Walton County Sheriff's Office, said. "We just felt [that] us as public servants, we needed to be here to support them through this."

Howell and other deputies drove six hours from Walton county to be here.

"They are tremendously strong people," Howell said. "They are Christian people who did not deserve what happened to them. I don't understand what happened, but I can tell you they have helped me as an investigator working on this case [to] be strong."

He met the family less than a week ago, but their bond is now forged tight. Though Courtney's gone, she won't be forgotten.

"The whole community loves them and supports them," McCormick said. "We will just continue to pray for them."
 
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Bee

Beach Comber
Jun 21, 2011
6
3
Thank you Scooterbug, and Pilot is right........this was not some completely unpreventable or random act of nature, it was a deliberate crime by a person known to be threatening. There is nothing else we can do for Courtney now; but call the Sheriff in the future. We need to be more proactive and adopt a "neighborhood watch" mentality. Sowal is a better place than most, and the full time residents are key to keeping it that way.
 

joho

Beach Fanatic
Aug 5, 2005
1,125
169
In the past the county had signs posted at public parks "hours: dawn till dusk". The parks were patroled and anyone violating were asked to move along. That meant no overnighters.
 

Sugar Magnolia

Beach Crab
Mar 25, 2011
4
1
http://www.waltonsun.com/news/ellis-7044-murder-son.html


"Melody Ellis thought kicking her son out of the house would be the toughest moment in her life.

With tear-filled eyes and a look of exhaustion, Ellis spoke to The Sun about the last interaction she had with her son, Steven Anthony Cozzie, before he was charged with the murder of 15-year-old tourist Courtney Wilkes.

“I kicked him out of the house to show him tough love,” she said Tuesday. “I just never thought I’d wake up one day to this mess.’’

The 21-year-old South Walton High School graduate was arrested Friday, June 17, and charged with the murder of Wilkes, who was vacationing with her family at Beachcrest condominiums. A Walton County Sheriff's Office arrest report indicates that Wilkes was killed off a trail near her condo with a blow from an unknown weapon.

According to the report, one of Cozzie's friends said he took him to see the body and told him that he had killed Wilkes by hitting her on the head with a stick. That friend later reported the body to the Sheriff's Office and led deputies to the scene.

Cozzie’s court date is July 19 where he may enter a plea to the premeditated murder charge, which is punishable by a death sentence or life in prison.

Ellis spoke about her son and her grief during an interview at her house in Seagrove. She has plenty of questions, but investigators are offering few answers.

According to Ellis, before the arrest, Cozzie told his brother that he had to go to work at Bruno’s Pizza in Seagrove Beach later that evening. Ellis called Bruno’s later looking for her son, and she was told he had the day off and that the police were looking for him.

Later that evening while on the phone, she found out that he was being arrested for murder.

“I just lost it. Started crying, felt sick,” she said.

“My heart goes out to the Wilkes family,” she added. "I just feel awful for them.''

Since the arrest, she’s seen her son twice while visiting him at Walton County Jail. Ellis said Cozzie told her he was under the influence of drugs and he didn’t remember anything about that night.

“When I went to visit him, he did tell me he was sorry,” she said. “Sorry for everything that he’d done to get kicked out and everything leading up to the incident. He was pretty emotional.”

In the second visit, he was more clear and told her “I didn’t lay a hand on her,” according to Ellis.

Cozzie moved to the area when he turned 18 and moved in with Ellis. Ellis said they had separated in Illinois when he was 3 years old after she and Cozzie’s father divorced. She and her son eventually reunited when she located him in Berry, Ala., where he had moved with his father.

“When I found him he appeared as if he had been through some emotional abuse,” she said. “He was very distant.”

After his move, however, she said Cozzie started to come out of his shell, but he has always been treated like an “outcast” at school, where he was a special needs student.

The Sun spoke to several acquaintances of Steven who did not want to speak on the record. While some described him as socially awkward, others painted a picture of “a nice guy” who was sometimes a little "slow."

Shirley Guzman, who works at A-List Hair Salon, said Cozzie was a regular at the salon, which is next door to the restaurant where Cozzie worked as a dishwasher.

Guzman said "he was someone I wouldn't have thought twice to give a ride to."

But Jerry Michael, a fellow student at South Walton High, said Steven did not have many friends and “always put everyone on edge and made them feel really uneasy.”

As the small community reels from the news, the investigation is ongoing. According to an article in the Northwest Florida Daily News, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mike Morrison said DNA testing is being conducted. The autopsy report for Wilkes had not been completed yet, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The report will determine the cause and manner of Wilkes’ death.

There are no other suspects in the case. Ellis, however, believes there’s more to the story.

“He was someone to run from confrontation much less committing an act of violence,” Ellis said. “I think that if he was drug induced and did something like this, or if he was forced to do something like this, then he needs to pay the cost. But I'm also saying whoever was with him also needs to join him."
 
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PJJ

Beach Lover
Oct 27, 2007
115
23
JT has business cards, so I'd say he's more of a travelling businessman than a hobo.
 

rdelong43065

Beach Fanatic
May 28, 2007
678
121
58
Seagrove
JT has business cards, so I'd say he's more of a travelling businessman than a hobo.

And he also has money to drink every night at Angelina's bar. I stopped going to watch the sunset at the walkover because he is always there and is always bothering people.
 

hippiechick

Beach Fanatic
Oct 1, 2006
275
54
Seagrove Beach
I don't know about you but personally I don't care about anything that comes out of his Mother's mouth. No she is not responsible for what her son did. But saying things like, he seemed emotionally abused, and was a special needs student, and that he was high on drugs and does not remember, is making excuses for his murdering that child. This community is still in shock over the murder and now is not the time for his mother to talk about her poor kids problems. It makes me sick!
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
Some of what she said jibes with what I was hearing when it was first happened, but I am definitely calling BS on some of it.

Test results, evidence, and testimony will tell us the real story some day.

There's only one real victim in all this, and she was just laid to rest decades too early.
 

BeachLover1

Beach Crab
Jun 23, 2011
1
0
I rarely if ever post forum messages on anything but...
"...This mess"? You must be kidding!! You've had the opportunity to question your son and see his face twice since this horrible tragedy occured. The Wilkes family will never be given the same blessing. To state how special needs/outcast he was is intolerable. Being special needs does not condone what he has done. Which, as a longtime visitor, I know Steven personally. He was forever hitting on young women of an appropriate age, and Mrs. Ellis was constantly kicking him out of her home. Tough decision?? One you seemingly done repeatedly. Only this time you woke up to a "mess". Woe is me. It makes me sick that one sentence in this post was dedicated to the Wilkes. Finally, I am not the person to say I saw this coming. I never dreamed this. I am still in shock and heartbroken for the Wilkes family. But for Mrs. Ellis to make her entire public response about Steven and to insinuate this was the first time he had been homeless and how poor woe is me he was is disgusting!
 

sunspotbaby

SoWal Insider
Mar 31, 2006
5,010
739
Santa Rosa Beach
I'm not about to condemn a mother. I'm a mother too. I have a son that's 21. I didn't give birth to him but i'm his mom, nonetheless. A 'mother' who spent the 1st 3 years with her son and hasn't seen him since until 3 years ago, does not "know" her son. That's about all there is to it. Bottom line is...we don't get to pick and choose our children and our children don't get to pick and choose their parents. We are who we are and I hope this young man is held accountable if he is proven guilty. I'm sorry for this mother's loss, as well.
 
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