Raymond Jerome Jackson, a 17-year-old Black male from Indianapolis, Indiana, died on Sunday, May 4, 2008. In the days that followed, his name appeared in a brief public death notice that fixed the date in time and pointed people toward a place where goodbyes would be said aloud, together, rather than in private.
A service was scheduled for Monday, May 12, at Marvin L. Boatright Funeral Home on North Illinois Street, with a calling period beginning late that morning and lasting until the hour of the ceremony. Afterward, he was to be laid to rest at New Crown Cemetery, a final address that would outlast the headlines and the seasons, and give family and friends somewhere to return when they needed to feel close to him again.
Beyond those formal arrangements, the publicly available record does not spell out what happened in the final hours of his life—no account of where he was, who he was with, or what led to his death. In the sources that are readily accessible online, there are no publicly documented arrests, named suspects, or court proceedings tied to his case, leaving the circumstances of his death unclear in public view even as his community gathered to mourn him.
