East St. Louis dad turned life around, friends say. They want justice for his killing.
Wendell Bennett was 29 and at one time he lived a life that landed him in prison. Once he got out, he vowed never to end up in jail again.
According to three women who knew him best, he changed his life and was doing the right things.
But on June 15, he was found by police laying in the passenger-side seat of a car on the 2900 block of Louisiana Boulevard in East St. Louis. He was taken to a Saint Louis University Hospital with apparent gunshot wounds and later died.
Brittanie Jackson, Kyanna Savage and Diashia Humphries all have children by Bennett. They described him as a loving individual who was always smiling. The three women say they want justice.
They said they know who killed Bennett and have given the police this information.
East St. Louis Patrol Sgt. Cantrell Patterson said the case is still under investigation.
The three women are frustrated and angry that the person who took their children’s father from them is still walking free.
Patterson said police received a shots-fired, man-down call and were dispatched to the scene.
“When officers arrived on scene, they located a 2007 black Toyota Camry with a male victim laying in the passenger side of the vehicle,” Patterson said.
Patterson said Bennett had been shot at least twice.
Bennett’s death called ‘unbelievable’
Jackson said the news that the father of two of her children was dead was not just shocking, but was “unbelievable.” She has two boys by Bennett, a 1-year-old and a 4-month-old.
After several texts and 31 calls to Bennett’s cellphone on the day he was shot, Jackson knew something was not right. Bennett would never ignore a call from her.
The father of her two children was funny and loved kids even if it they weren’t his own.
“He went from being a rough guy to being a good guy. At one time he wasn’t working. He liked to hang out in the streets,” Jackson said.
“He went to jail and when he got out, he turned his life around. He started working and kept a job. He was a different person and his old friends weren’t used to this new man with a different lifestyle.”
Jackson said she and Bennett had taken a trip to Atlanta on the weekend before Bennett died to celebrate her birthday, which was June 13. The couple came back from Atlanta on Sunday, June 14, the day before Bennett was killed.
On their way back from Atlanta, they stopped in Alabama to see two sons Bennett fathered with Savage.
When they returned to the metro-east, Jackson said Bennett borrowed her car to check on his car because he heard it had been spray painted.
Jackson said she exchanged texts with Bennett on the night he was shot.
“At 6:30 p.m., I got a text from him that he was talking to somebody he knew. I sent him a picture of our 4-month-old and he texted back a heart,” she said.
She texted him again at 8:19 p.m. to see if he was OK but didn’t get a reply. At 10 p.m., Jackson tried again, texting him two question marks without an answer. By 1 a.m., she had the feeling that something was wrong.
Jackson fell asleep and was later awakened by a relative of Bennett asking if she knew where Bennett was.
“I could tell in her voice she was trying to tell me something,” Jackson said.
That’s when Jackson learned her children’s father was dead.
She said she doesn’t know why the police have not made an arrest and she wants the person who did it to pay for the senseless crime.
‘It’s just not right’
Savage has two sons by Bennett, Samaj, who is 3 and Amir, who is 1. Both will miss doing things with their father, Savage said.
“It’s just not right,” she said.
No one saw anything like this coming because Bennett was doing everything right, she said.
Savage said the news came as a total surprise.
“This is really rough. It’s sad and just unexplainable,” she said.
She learned the news from a family member who woke her up.
“I just started screaming,” she said. “I had just seen him three days prior. I was in disbelief when I first heard what happened. And, I am still in disbelief.
“He would give you the shirt off his back ... anything you asked for, he would give it to you,” Savage said, choking up as she spoke. “He was a good father. They didn’t have to be his own kids. He just loved kids and wanted to see them happy. He was active with kids. Oh my goodness, he is going to be missed.”
“Now, all of his babies have to suffer,” she said. “He was working steady, doing good. He got a car and a house. He was doing it. He wasn’t trying to go back to prison. He told me those two years he did kind of killed him. He wanted to give his kids a better life. ...
“He had a crazy, cool type personality. He was full of life. He liked to explore new things. He liked to travel and he liked music.”
Bennett is survived by his mother, three sisters and a brother. Savage said, “Everybody is going to miss him. He didn’t deserve this.”
Justice sought in shooting
Humphries said her family gave her the news about Bennett’s death.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Humphries said. “I was in shock. I saw him two weeks prior to this. I just broke down crying when I found out.”
Humphries said Bennett is the father of her 11-year-old daughter A’Niyia Humphries.
“No matter what the situation was, he always had to tell a joke,” Humphries said of Bennett. “I want justice. I want the person who did this to be arrested. He did not deserve to have his life taken like this. It’s senseless.”
Humphries said she is going to keep her child’s father’s memory alive with their daughter.
“They hung out,” Humphries said. “She is going to miss him coming to her school assemblies.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 9:27 AM.
