A funeral was scheduled Saturday for one of the three teenagers killed while speeding in a stolen car.

The mother of one of the teens spoke to Bay News 9.

Cheryl Walker's son, 16-year-old Dejarae Thomas, died in the Aug. 6 crash.

Keontae Brown, 16, and Jimmie Goshey, 14, also were killed.

Walker said she is doing something Saturday she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy: burying her son.

She said despite what people are saying about the teenagers, she wants people to know Dejarae was a good boy who got into the wrong crowd. He was the youngest of her seven children.

"He was my everything," she said. "He was just a bubbly, happy person. He's the type of person who if he has a joke, he can brighten up your day."

She said that the day of the crash, Dejarae left after she fell asleep. She woke up to news of the fiery crash that took his life.


"He was my everything," Cheryl Walker said of her son Dejarae Thomas.

"I remember telling the police, 'Take me to get my baby, he's waiting on me to come get him,'" Walker said. "And it's the worst feeling in my life to have to go through this. I wouldn't wish this on nobody, not even my worst enemy."

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said six teens were speeding down Tampa Road in two stolen vehicles when the crash happened.

The teens had extensive criminal records, and Dejarae had just been released from juvenile detention eight days earlier.

But his mother said she doesn't want his actions to define him.

"He had his problems, but no kid is perfect," Walker said. "Every kid ran into bumps in the road, but despite all of that he was a good kid."

Walker said kids like her own often become victims of the streets, an epidemic she said needs to stop.

"I said I would never, never want to lose one of my kids to the streets," she said. "I sit there and I kick myself, what if I had done this. But you can't play the what-if game because you can only do so much as a single parent."

The funeral for Dejarae Thomas will be held at St. John P.B. Church.