For the first six months after her son’s death, “I couldn’t even get out of bed. It was really, really hard,” said Stacey Culp Rasberry, mother of Jason C. Drummond Jr.
Drummond, 24, of Masury, was fatally shot July 27, 2018, in Masury.
“For me, to get better, I had to just put it in God’s hands, instead of worrying about it, thinking about it every day,” Rasberry said. “That’s easier said than done. At times, it helped.”
Jason Drummond
The man accused of killing Drummond, Joseph S. Rosario, fled from Masury shortly before Brookfield police obtained an arrest warrant for him. His disappearance was intertwined in Rasberry’s ability to heal.
“It was just waiting, and then you go through birthdays and holidays,” said Rasberry, of Masury. “To me, I was feeling like, ‘It’s not fair. My son doesn’t get to be here, with me, with his kids, with his family.’ Joseph (Rosario) still gets to enjoy those things. That was really, really hard.”
The news that Rosario had been arrested Aug. 28 in New York was “bittersweet,” she said.
“Whole bunch of different emotions ran through me,” Rasberry said. “I just started crying. I couldn’t stop crying. I can rest, but it hasn’t done anything for my pain, for the grief. I’m still not satisfied, him being caught.”
Brookfield police have said little about the two men’s relationship. Det. Sgt. Aaron Kasiewicz said the two knew each other and “There was an incident that led up to it (shooting),” but said it is too early to get into detail about what they know.
Rasberry said she had only seen Rosario once, when he walked by her house, and had never met him.
“I know he and Jason were friends,” Rasberry said. “I do know that he stayed the night at Jason’s house before. He held my granddaughter when she was little.”
Rasberry said she has faith in the criminal justice system.
“I just pray that he (Rosario) gets what he deserves,” she said. “Whatever the justice system decides, that’s his punishment. Of course, I have to go along with it.”
Rasberry said she does not hate Rosario, “even though he took my son from me.”
“I look at it like this: He’s a young black male. My son was a young black male. I know the challenges that my son had to go through, just being black and being a young man. For that reason, I can’t hate him. It’s not in me to hate him.”
She said she hopes to have a day when she can “look him in his face so that he knows that Jason was important. He was a person who had family that loved him. It changed the whole family dynamic, losing somebody. I just wanna look him in the eye and I just want to know, ‘Why?’”
Drummond left behind four children – their ages are now between 10 and 3 – and only the oldest two remember him, Rasberry said. She said she works to keep their father’s memory alive through photos and stories.
“He was a great father, an awesome son and big brother,” she said. “He was funny. He was really smart beyond his years.”
Drummond learned about parenting by helping his mom with his two younger brothers, Rasberry said.
“He helped me a lot with the boys,” she said. “He knew how to raise kids and change diapers and feed them and all that. He was very patient and a great father.”
Rasberry thanked Kasiewicz for his devotion to the case, and her well-being.
“He has been so supportive,” she said. “He never gave up. He stayed in contact at least every three to six months. He would come by the house, he would call, he would let me know that he’s not giving up on this, even though it was out of his jurisdiction, he was still gonna pursue it. That made things a lot easier.”
