TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Slain Teen's Dad Airs Family's Stress

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: October 28, 2008

TAMPA - Vidal Mills asks a visitor to call before dropping by his Carver City home so a family member can hold the chained pit bull in the front yard at bay.

The dog is one security measure the family has adopted since Vidal's oldest son, Cedric "C.J." Mills, 17, was shot dead in the driveway 18 months ago. There have been no arrests in the case, a fact that keeps the family frustrated and on edge.

Mills said he and other family members have heard rumors about who might have been involved. His two stepdaughters have heard other disturbing remarks.

"They get threatening phone calls: 'Your family can be touched,' or some mess like that," Mills said Monday. "They're scared every day."

Mills spoke about the stress on his family in light of his arrest with his brother this month on charges of felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery. Tampa police said the brothers attacked 19-year-old Fredrick Powell on Oct. 15 at a McDonald's where Vidal Mills' youngest stepdaughter works. According to a police report, Powell had been talking about his involvement in C.J. Mills' death.

An attempt to reach Powell on Monday was unsuccessful.

Father Feels Powerless

Mills said the lack of resolution and fear for his family's safety are a strain.

"I took it upon myself. I need to be the one to protect my family," he said. "I sleep maybe an hour at a time. I got to worry if they want to go to the mall. I got to worry about them 24 hours a day. ... If I'm not here, there's no way I'll let them be here by themselves."

At 6 feet tall and roughly 240 pounds, Vidal Mills, 36, still has the physique of the linebacker he once was for the Tampa Bay Storm, an Arena Football League team. He also spent a year on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice squad.

For all his strength, he feels powerless at times coping with his son's death.

"Things that happen to me, I can control. Something happens to my family, it hurts more," Mills said. "I can't explain the hurt and the pain I have in my heart. They did the absolute worst thing they could've done to me."

C.J. Mills was a Jefferson High School football star who dreamed of playing in the National Football League. He was outside his house at 4219 W. Laurel St. on April 25, 2007, when two men sprang out of a Chrysler Sebring and shot him, police said. They took a medallion and a cell phone from him.

Police said detectives interviewed Powell at the time but did not consider him "a person of interest."

Maj. George McNamara, who is supervising the slaying investigation, repeatedly has asked the public for tips. On Monday, he said he sympathizes with the family and understands their frustration.

"Somebody with first-hand knowledge of this is what law enforcement is trying to find and what we so desperately need," McNamara said. "We're not to the point where I can pull out a set of handcuffs and put them on somebody, with probable cause to make an arrest. How I wish we were."

McNamara said police have heard many stories about why someone would want to kill C.J. Mills, including a rumor Vidal Mills relayed Monday, that he was killed for attacking another teen in the neighborhood. Mills said his son fought with the other teenager after finding a friend in poor condition, foaming at the mouth and lying in a street near Jefferson High School.

McNamara said police have run down each rumor. The homicide detectives met this month to hammer out strategies. "We're doing everything that we can," he said.

Threats By Phone

Mills said his family keeps hearing gossip with the same names attached, including Powell's. Some people have told police what they know but don't want to testify, he said.

Since the killing, Mills' older stepdaughter, 19, has received threatening calls on her cell phone, even after changing the number, Mills said. The calls started when the family began publicizing a reward for information leading to the killers' arrest. The message: "There's more stuff that's gonna happen" unless the family stays quiet, Mills said.

Mills' younger stepdaughter, 17, also has told her family about people calling her friends to ask when she gets off work at McDonald's. She was at work at the restaurant at 1905 N. Dale Mabry Highway about 7:50 p.m. Oct. 15 when she saw Powell come in and called her mother and Vidal Mills.

"She told me she's scared. 'He's staring at me,'" Vidal Mills said.

He and his brother, Ernest Mills, 33, rushed to the restaurant. Vidal Mills said that when he saw Powell, "I just clicked. ... I did lose it; I admit that."

He said he punched Powell once but denied beating him and kicking him. He said he wanted answers. "I was questioning him, drilling him" about the killing.

Powell said he didn't know Mills' son, then changed his story, Mills said. "He said he didn't pull the trigger" and named someone else, Mills said.

Mills said he began dragging Powell toward the exit when the manager told them to leave. In retrospect, he said, "half of me's like, you did it the wrong way. Half of me's like, he got what he deserved."

Mills said he's not looking for trouble. He just wants his family to be safe. When asked why the family doesn't move to another neighborhood, he shakes his head.

"I'm not going nowhere. I'm not gonna run," he said.

He indicates the rusted gray 1990 Chevrolet that sits in the yard, the clunker that his son drove and refused to replace. "People tell me, 'Sell it. Sell it.' I can't. Same reason why I can't leave," he said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT