OAKLAND PARK, Fla. — One Hope United, a nonprofit organization that offered services at the house where a teenage boy was killed on Monday in Broward County, released a statement after an alert neighbor reported the connection.
Bobbie L. Pecora, a neighbor of the group home for boys at 5464 NE 3 Ave. in Oakland Park, said the adults moved in last year in March, but the minors didn’t start moving in until September.
On Thursday, Pecora, 57, said she met 14-year-old Jordan Dowdy, the murder victim, as her new neighbor earlier this year. Pecora described the haunting conversation.
“I said, ‘Hey, you are new over there. How is everything going?’ And he said, ‘It’s scary!’”
Pecora also shared a Ring camera video with an Aug. 12 time-stamp that she said shows the last time she saw Jordan, who knocked on her front door to tell her he was raising funds for his football team and needed support. Neighbors and Jordan’s mother reported Jordan had told them that he feared a roommate at the house.
“He was terrorized before he was murdered,” Pecora said, adding that she also saw deputies respond to the house often.
In an emergency dispatch recording released on Thursday, a man told a 911 dispatcher he needed law enforcement and paramedics to help “a bleeding suspect” after a “stabbing” at the “foster home” on Monday -- after there was a fight and he “had to break it up.”
Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputies and fire rescue personnel responded to the house. Fire rescue personnel took Jordan to the hospital, and deputies arrested 16-year-old Ruben Whitworth, another resident of the home who is facing a first-degree murder charge. Homicide detectives reported Jordan died at the hospital.
“He had a big heart, he loved everybody that he came in contact with, he loved football,” Simpson said on Wednesday, while holding pictures of Jordan wearing a football team’s uniform.
Natalie Bauer Luce, a spokeswoman for OHU, released a statement on Thursday afternoon about the murder in the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Oakland Park.
“We are devastated by this tragic event,” Bauer Luce wrote in the statement.
OHU runs “Hope Houses‚” a program for boys and girls ages 13 to 17 who are involved in “child and family services,” and are “often dually-involved with juvenile justice,” according to the organization’s site.
“We are offering counseling services and other support to those in need and are working with local law enforcement in its investigation to understand how this incident unfolded,” Bauer Luce wrote.
There was a candlelight vigil in front of the Oakland Park home on Wednesday night. Simpson and other neighbors said Jordan was in distress before the stabbing.
“The kid kept threatening him,” Simpson said. “I expressed to multiple people who were here within the home with him.”
Simpson also said she was disappointed in the Florida Department of Children and Families and the adults who had failed to keep Jordan safe while she was fighting for custody.
Pecora said she had learned OHU planned to run a home for girls in foster care before she saw the teenage boys last year, and deputies responding several times this year. Neighbors reported the house was so out of control that they were also afraid after kids had threatened to hurt the elderly and pets.
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of our teens and employees is our highest priority,” Bauer Luce wrote in the statement. “We remain committed to supporting our community through this difficult time and to doing everything we can to ensure our organization upholds its mission to support the youth and families we serve.”
Related stories
- Audio of 911 caller after teen’s fatal stabbing in Broward: ‘It’s a foster home’
- Slain teenage boy’s father was in prison when he died while in foster care in Broward, records show
- Mother of slain 14-year-old boy says murder suspect ‘kept threatening him’ before stabbing in Broward
- Teen’s fatal stabbing at Oakland Park home leads to questions about who lives there
- Teen faces murder charge in Broward juvenile court after 14-year-old boy dies
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo and Reporter Walter Murphy contributed to this report.
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