He was beaten to death by a teen with a baseball bat.
One week later, friends and family said goodbye to murder victim, 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz.
Carload after carload, friends, classmates and former classmates arrived at the Marion Nelson Funeral Home in Lake Wales.
Many are having a hard time understanding how a young life could be cut short in an instant.
“Yeah, it’s different without him,” said Elijah Gonzalez.
Last Monday, Giovanni, friends call him “Gio,” Diaz died in the woods near his home.
Investigators believe his former friend Dillen Murray beat him to death with a baseball bat in an argument over a girl.
Gio’s younger brother forgives his accused killer.
“My brother was doing good in life. He was excelling than other kids. My brother was going to graduate very young but, in the end, this kid decided to take my brother. That’s not right,” said Elijah Rodriguez.
The chilling 911 call from the accused murderer is tough to hear.
“He tried to attack me. And then me and him got into a fight but I had the baseball bat and I don’t know if he’s dead because I hit him so many times, man,” Murray told the dispatcher.
His guilt or innocence is up for the court to decide.
“Gio was a great kid. He didn’t care who it was. He wanted friends. He was the type to inspire. And nothing’s the same without him being here,” said former classmate Amber Lee.
Gio’s family will never be the same.
“It’s hard knowing that my brother won’t be there to wake me up to let us know it’s time for school,” said Rodriguez.
We were asked to not bring a camera into the funeral home.
Inside, a very nice slide show showing Gio’s life played on several TV monitors and dozens of young people cried and held on to each other.
