Thirty years ago, 9-year-old Jonathan Sellers and his 13-year-old friend Charlie Keever went out for a bike ride and never came home, reports NBC 7’s Allison Ash.
It was a crime that put fear in the hearts of every San Diego parent. Thirty years ago, two boys out riding their bikes on a sunny day in the South Bay were abducted and killed.
The anniversary of the deaths of 9-year-old Jonathan Sellers and his friend, 13-year-old Charlie Keever, turned into a celebration of their lives.
About 100 people filled the open space along the Bayshore Bikeway in the Otay River Valley, which is now the Sellers-Keever Outdoor Education Activities Center. The spot is about a football field's length away from the place where the boys’ bodies were found, yet everyone seemed jubilant.
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Milena Phillips-Sellers told NBC 7 it doesn’t feel like 30 years. “I’m able to think about my baby and not hurt so much, you know,” she said while smiling.
“It feels so good to be here. It’s beautiful and my baby, he was able to see all of this before I did.”
Erin Runnion knows how Phillips-Sellers feels. Her 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, was kidnapped and killed 20 years ago. The two mothers work together to make sure the pain and grief their families went through aren’t experienced by others.
“It’s all about protecting children. It’s all about the prevention and the positivity and honoring the joy that Jonathan and Charlie brought to this world, and this feels like a perfect celebration for them," Runnion said.
A former classmate of Jonathan’s sang two songs. Jorge Galaz’ voice cracked as he tried to get some of the words out.
“He was 9 years old in my 4th grade class, the class clown, always made us laugh. He was 9 years old, he was way too young, still new to the world, just havin’ fun,” Galaz said.
The celebration also included comments from the mayor of Imperial Beach and former San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox, who helped find the funding to create the outdoor activities center in the boys’ names.
Doves were released by the boys’ mothers to a round of applause as several more took flight.
Members of the Jonathan Sellers and Charlie Keever Foundation sold a book called “Fly Away,” authored by Jonathan’s mother. Proceeds from the sale go to the foundation’s mission of creating safe spaces for children.
Phillips-Sellers’ work with the foundation includes classes for children where they learn about stranger danger and learn when to run away.
“Empower your child,” she said. “If they’re feeling uncomfortable, you leave. You don’t have to stay around that person.”
Although laws have been strengthened to punish child predators, Phillips-Sellers told NBC 7 she’d rather give children the opportunity to be children.
“The person that murdered my son and Charlie, yes, he went to jail. He was on death row and eventually he did die. I’d rather my son be alive," Phillips-Sellers said.
The murders of the two boys went unsolved for more than eight years until DNA at the scene led investigators to a convicted rapist named Scott Erskine. Erskine was convicted for the two murders and sent to death row. He died in 2020 from complications related to COVID-19.
