Mother recalls 6-year-old son's life

Web posted April 22, 1999

By Meghan Gourley
Staff Writer

NORTH AUGUSTA -- A poster of Michael Jordan with outstretched arms and the word ``Wings'' hung over the wooden dresser filled with a boy's tiny T-shirts and shorts. A bold-colored Fisher-Price basketball hoop hung on the bedroom door, tattered from overuse. A stack of Dr. Seuss books sat newly packaged in a box marked ``Keenan's books.''

Nina O'Mailia neatly folded the clothes of her 6-year-old son, pulling from the drawers hidden dirty socks and old Easter candy wrappers, sharing memories of the dead kindergartner and recounting the last conversation she had with him before he disappeared into Riverview Park on his bike last Saturday, never to return.

``We had just come back from a long walk, and I was going to make dinner -- chicken and mashed potatoes -- he loved mashed potatoes. We were going to make cookies and he was excited we were going to make cookies,'' Ms. O'Mailia said Wednesday during an interview at her Georgetown Drive home.

Keenan decided that while his mother cooked, he would ride his black-and-red Street Shark bike to the park playground -- what he's done dozens of times before. That was at about 4 p.m.

``He was always good about checking in and telling me where he was,'' Ms. O'Mailia said. Never once did he stay out later than he was allowed. ``He knew better than that.''

The 26-year-old single mother moved with Keenan to Georgetown Villas on the edge of the popular Riverview Park only a month ago. She had spent several years in Aiken earning a bachelor's degree in biology at University of South Carolina Aiken, and during the last year of her studies, Keenan lived with her parents in Portland, Ore.

Last May, Ms. O'Mailia completed her education, and after spending the summer at home, she decided to move back to Georgia.

``It's cold, and it rains in Portland,'' she said. She sought a warmer climate for her son.

``I really liked North Augusta; it's not as big as Augusta, but it was nice,'' she said. The quiet, family neighborhood near the park was perfect for her and Keenan and when she landed a job as an administrative assistant at Kimberly-Clark Corp., she and Keenan were together and finally on their own.

``He was very autonomous; he was only in kindergarten but people said he was big enough to be a third-grader.''

He was a bright boy whose favorite movie was Space Jam, and he wanted to be a professional basketball player, like Michael Jordan, and a policeman. His favorite game was UNO, which he played dozens of times; he learned to ride a bike at age 4 and knew how to play chess. He used to collect soft-drink bottle caps that promised he'd be the next million-dollar winner -- he was sure he'd get lucky one day.

And he knew that when a stranger approached, he should scream and yell.

But Ms. O'Mailia didn't think the worst when Keenan didn't come home Saturday night. Children get caught up with each other and wander.

So after he'd been gone about an hour-and-a-half, Ms. O'Mailia rode her bike to the park to look for him. When she didn't find him or his bike at the park playground, she rode around looking for him but didn't find him.

``I was starting to get angry and was really thinking about his punishment,'' she said. After another hour she drove around the neighborhood, looking for him or his bike.

After looking for him a third time at Hammond Hill Elementary School, where he was a pupil, she called police.

``I couldn't sleep at all,'' she said of the night when the mercury dipped below 40 degrees, uncharacteristic for a mid-April night in the area.

After hours of searching on foot with flashlights and bloodhounds, by helicopter with infrared lights, the boy's body was found.

``Not until they told me what happened did I believe it,'' she said. ``I figured he'd fallen asleep in the woods, and I was so worried he'd be cold and hungry.''

Instead, Keenan's body lay in the woods, sexually assaulted and strangled. A church volunteer found his body and alerted police.

Since that moment, Ms. O'Mailia has been deluged by an outpouring of emotion from the community. Gifts of flowers, balloons and money have been left on her doorstep while she sought refuge with friends and family.

``People have been really generous,'' she said, and few have left names and addresses. Ms. O'Mailia wants to thank them wholeheartedly.

A memorial service for Keenan is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at Poteet Funeral Home in North Augusta, and Ms. O'Mailia has invited everyone to come.

``Anyone who was touched by this at all should come, and I will take the time to thank everybody,'' she said.

Ms. O'Mailia packed not only Keenan's things Wednesday but also her own. Next week, she will move back to Portland with her family.

While packing, she pulled a box of photo albums and paged through the memories -- weddings and births, park visits and snapshots of a little boy.

She pulled out a picture of she and her son, embracing.

``He was an amazing little boy.''

Meghan Gourley covers crime for The Augusta Chronicle. She can be reached at 823-3227 or mgourley@augustachronicle.com.