When 17-year-old Isaiah Davis was shot, killed and then burned, his mother, Leslie Bell, started a search for his killer, intent on justice.
The high school senior was happy, outgoing and respectful, according to a GoFundMe set up for his family. According to WLS-TV, he had plans to join the National Guard and study law after graduating.
“Everything was Isaiah,” Bell said. “He was my baby. He was the last child.”
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But that all came to a tragic end on Oct. 28 after Davis interacted with 34-year-old Faheem Norwood. Norwood was on parole and had a criminal history.
Cook County prosecutors allege that the man confronted Davis in the basement of a house in Burnham, Illinois. At first, he pointed a gun at the teen and asked if he would “take one for your boys.” He pulled the trigger but no shot was fired, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Then Norwood allegedly fired a second time, shooting and killing Davis.
A defense attorney maintained that Norwood had not intended to kill the teen and that they had been playing Russian roulette.
Afterward, Norwood placed the gun in Davis’ hand and tried to make it look like he’d shot himself. He then moved the body to a U-Haul and took it to an abandoned apartment, and later an alley in Harvey, where he set the body on fire — apparently in a bid to erase the evidence.
He also directed others to remove the carpet in the basement where Davis had been shot, and new flooring was installed.
Bell managed to track her son’s whereabouts on Oct. 28, which brought her face-to-face with Norwood. She said she knew he was the killer when she looked at him.
“I was able to meet with him and look him in his eye, and I knew that it was him who hurt my son, who actually killed my son,” she said.
“A mother fought to get the information to give to these detectives and the detectives put the pieces to the puzzle to bring this case where it’s at now,” anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes said.
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“Faheem has a long history of criminal activity,” Deputy Chief Cameron Biddings of the Harvey Police Department said. “He’s a dangerous man that should not be on the streets.”
Norwood has been arrested, charged with first-degree murder, and is being held without bond.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
