CLEVELAND — Nearly three months have passed since Sherice Snowden last saw her only son, Keshaun Williams. As Snowden continues to plead for answers, she is also encouraging the community to help in any way they feel is best to bring her only son home.
“There’s some good people out here. I told everybody you know if they want to support, they’re more than welcome,” Snowden said. “I know that somebody out there is going to do the right thing and report him or return him.”
As News 5 has reported, there is an active Amber Alert for the 15-year-old. He is the 35th Amber Alert to be issued in Northeast Ohio since 2014. Thirty-four children have been found; Williams is still missing. He was last seen at a party near Gertrude Avenue in Cleveland on June 17.
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Snowden says one of the last days with her son was spent in the boxing ring at a sparring match in Cleveland.
“He’s very good at boxing,” she said. “He’s very close to Coach Ray. Coach Ray is like a role model for him as far as being a male role model. He’s teaching him discipline. He’s teaching him how to be a young man and how to have respect.”
Coach Ray Hamrick, one of three “Bar None Boxing Club” coaches at Earle B. Turner Recreation Center, met Williams about six months before Williams’ disappearance.
“His mom brought him to the gym saying that you know he wanted to learn how to box, and I was like well, come on,” he said. “His character showed more than just in the ring…he’s just a helluva kid…. We were just so happy with hopeful thoughts of a new future for him right and then this came.”
Hamrick refuses to back down from the fight to find the 15-year-old.
There’s not a day that goes by that I am not somewhere looking for him,” Hamrick said. “The tips I get, I follow them…I’ve had people call to the gym in the middle of practice. I’ll shut the gym down.”
Hamrick is not alone. After hearing Snowden’s cry for help, Elicia Smith paired up with Hamrick and started parking her food truck, Box ‘N D’vas Knockout Food Truck, in Cleveland neighborhoods to help search for Williams daily.
“I go all the way to 131st and Miles and then I’ll go to fleet from here…I’ve been even on the West side, 98th, Dennison,” Smith said. “I just feel compelled to do something…my heart says he’s still here.”
As Smith explained, she and Williams “boxed at the same gym… he’s part of my boxing family.”
Smith, who is also a mother, also started taking donations through her food truck sales with hopes of adding to the cash reward offered in exchange for information about Williams.
“So far, I’ve raised a little bit of money, but my goal is $5,000.”
As the painful search and fight for Williams goes on, this community of family, friends, and even strangers are not holding back any jabs of hope.
“It takes a village to raise a kid. We all are a village trying to find my child,” said Snowden.
READ MORE | Mother begs for answers about missing son
