Garren Bookman

Garren Lamarr Bookman, a 19-year-old white male affectionately known to family and friends as “Juju,” died on November 8, 2014, leaving behind a grieving family and a community struggling to understand his sudden loss. Born on July 25, 1995, Garren was a native of Sacramento, California, but had relocated to Fresno with his mother, Alice Cole. He was the son of Alice Cole and Garren Bookman and grew up surrounded by a large extended family. His surviving relatives included his siblings Gazzell Bookman, Dewayne Coston, Daylonie Coston, and Daytione Coston. Garren had attended Fresno High School, where athletic records identify him as a member of the varsity basketball team, with a reported graduation year of 2013. His death came just months after his nineteenth birthday, cutting short a life that had already touched many people throughout Sacramento and Fresno.

Those who knew Garren remembered him as an affectionate, humorous, and memorable young person who formed lasting relationships with friends, classmates, and extended family members. Following his death, messages of grief began appearing in his online memorial, revealing the emotional impact of his passing. One family friend recalled how Garren had spent considerable time at her home, where he jokingly called her “Mom,” and described him as being like a second son. Another acquaintance remembered his distinctive neon backpack on campus, a small but meaningful detail that remained associated with his memory. A former assistant principal at Fern Bacon recalled knowing Garren as a student and maintaining contact with him afterward. These personal recollections offered glimpses of his everyday life and the relationships he had developed before his death. For his mother, the loss was particularly devastating. In several memorial messages written in the months following his passing, she expressed her continuing love for her son and the pain of knowing that they would never share the additional years and memories she had hoped for.

As the family prepared to say goodbye, funeral arrangements were made in Sacramento. A public visitation was held on November 18, 2014, from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Morgan Jones Chapel of Chimes. His homegoing service followed on November 19 at 11:00 a.m. at Bayside Church Midtown, located at 2225 19th Street in Sacramento. His interment was private. The services provided family members, friends, and others who had known him with an opportunity to gather, remember his life, and offer support to his grieving loved ones. Condolences continued long after the funeral, with relatives sharing memories on birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions. One message posted around the time of his funeral expressed a desire for Garren to receive justice, suggesting that questions about the circumstances of his death were already weighing on those who loved him. Subsequent expressions of remembrance demonstrated that his loss remained deeply felt years later.

Although Garren's identity, birth date, death date, family relationships, and funeral arrangements are documented, the precise circumstances surrounding his death remain difficult to establish through independently verifiable public records. An official police account identifying the location of the fatal incident, the events immediately preceding his death, and the medical cause of death could not be confirmed. The existence of an online effort bearing the name “Justice for Juju,” together with memorial messages expressing a desire for justice, indicates continuing concern about the circumstances of his passing. However, those expressions alone do not establish the specific manner of death or identify anyone responsible. No verified suspect names, arrests, criminal charges, trials, or convictions directly connected to Garren's November 8, 2014, death could be established from the accessible reporting. The absence of publicly available documentation does not necessarily mean that investigators never examined the circumstances or that no investigative developments occurred.

In the years following Garren's death, the lasting impact of his loss has remained evident in the messages left by those closest to him. His mother continued to express how much she missed him, while cousins, friends, and other relatives shared memories of his laughter, kindness, and the moments they wished they could experience with him again. On November 11, 2024, nearly ten years after his death, a family member wrote that the heartbreak of losing her nephew had never disappeared. Such remembrances illustrate how deeply Garren's passing affected those who knew him and how his memory continues to be preserved. His story is that of a young Sacramento native who had established connections in Fresno, participated in school athletics, and developed meaningful relationships before his life ended unexpectedly. While publicly accessible information establishes the personal history of Garren Lamarr Bookman and the profound grief his death caused, important questions concerning the circumstances of his passing and any possible criminal accountability remain unanswered in the records that could be verified.