‘I know it’s him:' Tampa family identifies boy, 16, found dead at Courtney Campbell

Cathy Jackson sat on the porch at her East Tampa home when her grandson left for school the morning of Nov. 12.

Eniola Olafemi, 16, wore his backpack and a Spongebob Squarepants T-shirt. He didn’t like school and left Armwood High School after repeatedly playing hooky, even though his grandmother said he was extremely bright and had tested into honors classes. When Eniola was 13, he ran away from home because he didn’t want to stay in school.

“Baby, you’re going to make sure you go to school and you’re going to stay in school all day today, right?” Jackson, 64, recalled asking him on his way out of the door.

Eniola smiled.

“Yes, Grandma,” he told her.

But the teen never showed up to Gary Adult High School that day. The family reported him missing, and nearly a week went by with no sign of the boy.

“When the homicide detectives came to our house Sunday night, we knew then it was something really wrong,” Jackson said. “I never imagined he’d leave that morning and we’d never see him again.”

Tampa police pulled a body from Tampa Bay near the Courtney Campbell Causeway Sunday night, the agency said in a news release. There were no signs of trauma and investigators were still waiting on the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death. The agency has not publicly identified the body.

It was the first of two unrelated death investigations near the Courtney Campbell Causeway after two bodies were recovered from the water just days apart. On Tuesday morning, Tampa police found the body of a Hispanic man in his early to mid-30s near the causeway.

The dead teen found Sunday matched Eniola’s build exactly — 5’ 8″ and 140 pounds — and wore a Spongebob shirt, his grandmother said detectives told her.

Investigators also told Jackson they were “90% sure” the boy was Eniola, but were awaiting results from a dental match before confirming his identity, Jackson said Wednesday morning.

Investigators were still working to identify the body Wednesday afternoon, according to Jonee’ Lewis, a spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department.

She said detectives don’t believe the death was suspicious, but that it was still early in the investigation.

Jackson adopted her grandson and his two siblings from Brazil, where they had lived with their father, in 2015. Eniola didn’t speak English when he started fourth grade in Tampa and was often bullied.

Despite high test scores, the boy had no interest in school, his grandmother said. By high school, he had made good friends and seemed happy, she added.

“All he wanted to do is eat, play basketball and see a girl,” she said.

Jackson said her grandson had a good heart and never argued. He was also too trusting of others, she said. Eniola often brushed off her warnings not to talk to strangers.

“He didn’t think nobody could hurt him — that nobody would hurt him,” she said.

Jackson believes Eniola was abducted, maybe on his way to school or maybe sometime later that day. She doesn’t think he ran away again: The teen left $50 at home the day he went missing and had been excited to spend it.

The medical examiner’s office told police that the boy’s body had been in the water for two days before he was found Sunday, Jackson said.

“Where was he for the rest of the days?” his grandmother asked.

Jackson expects to hear back from detectives about the dental match later on Wednesday. She has spent the last week consoling her family, some of whom are holding out hope that Eniola is still alive.

“I know it’s him,” Jackson said. “I can’t fall apart. I’m the one that had guardianship, and they’re expecting for me to do something with that baby’s body.”

Jackson, who is disabled, said she can’t afford to pay for her grandson’s burial. The family has launched a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses.

After detectives left their home Sunday, Jackson and her daughter, Eniola’s mother, cried all night.

The teen’s 15-year-old brother took the news hardest, Jackson said. When detectives showed up to take photos of the boys' bedroom they shared at Jackson’s home, Eniola’s brother was inconsolable, his grandmother said.

Now, and for the past week, he’s slept alone in the bedroom filled with their shared belongings.