Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407220148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER NOTE: Below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``What you doing in bed so early?'' he asked.
About an hour later, witnesses saw him climb onto the side of Wasena Bridge, remove his baseball cap, lay it down neatly and step off the side.
Police found his broken body lying face down on the pavement of Wiley Drive Southwest, nearly 50 feet below. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
``If there was anything worrying him, we could have talked it out,'' his mother, Shirley Stewart, said Monday. ``I told him if anything was bothering him, we could talk.''
But Raymond Stewart, 17, remained silent, and now his family is left wondering what had driven him in his quest to die.
``He didn't run the street like other boys,'' Shirley Stewart said. ``He didn't stand around on street corners.''
Raymond, the youngest of her nine children and a rising junior at Patrick Henry High School, had recently gotten a job and whiled away his leisure hours by playing computer games in his room.
``He wasn't a rowdy-type person,'' Shirley Stewart said. ``He was a kind and quiet person. He was on no type of drugs.''
No autopsy will be performed, although a vial of blood was removed from his body. It will be tested for signs of substance abuse.
Saturday evening, Raymond sat with his mother and brother, Linwood, to watch ``Star Trek'' on television. Linwood, 28, had noticed that his brother was quieter than usual.
``He had something on his mind,'' Linwood said.
Friends have told the family that Raymond was concerned about people putting him down. He also had broken up with his girlfriend Saturday.
Shirley Stewart had gone to bed and was groggy when her son came into her room about 9:30. When he told her ``good night,'' she assumed he had gone to bed until a police officer came to her door to tell her Raymond was dead.
``I couldn't believe what I was hearing,'' she said.
Linwood Stewart said he had trouble believing that it was his brother who had died. His doubt was removed when a police officer showed him a shirt that he knew Raymond had been wearing.
Although she was shocked, Shirley Stewart, who had lost her mother and husband previously, said she has learned that death plays no favorites.
``Death is something that comes to everyone's door,'' she said.
She takes solace in knowing that Raymond recently was baptized at Morningstar Baptist Street, which is directly across the street from the family home on Rorer Avenue Southwest.
Still, the pain of losing a child is testing her will.
``It took all my energy,'' she said. ``I'm trying to hold on. I'm trying not to get myself all worked up.''
Linwood said he doesn't feel comfortable right now in Raymond's room, where Raymond used to show off his new computer games.
His favorite was Super Streetfighter II.
Shirley Stewart is simply asking why.
``All I know is, he didn't come back,'' she said. ``I know that for sure.''
\ SUICIDE WARNING SIGNS|
1. Starts giving away valued belongings.
2. Appears depressed and then seems suddenly to have resolved all problems. That could indicate he or she already has made the decision to commit suicide.
3. Recently lost a friend or family member or knows that the anniversary of the death of a friend is approaching.
4. Experiences severe mood swings.
5. Shows major changes in grooming and appetite.
6. Withdraws from normal activities and becomes increasingly secretive.
7. Has a family history of suicide.
8. Shows a preoccupation with death.
Where to go for help
Roanoke Valley
Emergency Outreach Services (Blue Ridge Community Services) - (703)981-9351
Respond - (703)772-2800
Connect - (703)981-8181
Trust - (703)344-1948
New River Valley
Crisis Line - (703)639-1738
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB