John Jewell darted toward the small waves crashing on the beach as he and his friends arrived in Wildwood one summer day in 2002. It was John’s first time at the Jersey shore, and his friends loved watching the then-21-year-old’s first-ever swim in the ocean.
Then John’s shorts fell off.
“He looked down, then looked back up,” says Tara Vand, a close friend of John’s. “He shrugged and laughed along and said, ‘Well, what can you do?’”
Tara looks back fondly on these kind of memories because she says it was those moments John lived for, making other people smile.
“He loved being the center of attention and making others happy…gatherings aren’t the same without him,” says John’s mother, Teri Jewell, 56, who now lives in Lakeshore, Fla.
John was shot and killed in South Philly on Oct. 22, 2003, walking home after a shift at Trattoria on Passyunk Avenue (now called Mr. Martino’s Trattoria), where he bussed tables. He was 22 years old.
John was born Dec. 12, 1980 in Woodbury, NJ. He and Teri moved back and forth from Pitman, NJ to the Grays Ferry section of South Philadelphia, which became John’s stomping grounds.
He and his father were estranged for most of his life, so John’s family was primarily Teri and friends like Tara and Megan Peak. John was so proud to be a part of his close circle of friends who lived by 29th Street and Snyder Avenue that he referred to the group as “Deuce Nine.”
“He’d always say, ‘Deuce Nine in the jungle, mess with us and you’ll get rumbled,’” Megan, 36, recalls. “He loved us and his mother with his whole heart.”
Growing up, John loved watching MTV with his mom. They’d listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and similar rock bands. However, once he entered his teen years, his tastes shifted to rap artists like Wu-Tang Clan and Tupac Shakur.
“He would listen to music for hours,” Teri says.
John also loved sports, a Philadelphia Phillies fan through and through, and he was into football. “I hate to say it, but his favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys,” she laughs.
Music and sports aside, John mainly focused on supporting his family and friends. Several months before his death, John lived with Tara and her family in their home in Grays Ferry. Tara’s son Dylan was 4 years old at the time and John made him a priority in his life.
John would wake up with Dylan make him breakfast and spend time with him to help out Tara. “It wasn’t just his way of thanking me for letting him live with us,” Tara says. “He really cared about Dylan.”
“My son referred to John as his big brother…John’s passing was very hard for him,” she adds.
Friends and family say John was happy to get his foot in the door at the restaurant while he tried to figure out professional and personal goals.
No suspects have been named for John’s killing.
“We all do our best to make him proud every day, but we still feel his loss,” Teri says. “Sixteen years without any justice is too long.”
John’s funeral was held at Shea Funeral Home and St. Gabriel Catholic Church on Oct. 27, 2003.
In addition to his mother and father, Dennis Higbee, John is survived by his brothers, Tristian Higbee and Billy Ahern, aunts Joanne Curran and Cindy Daly, uncles Jack Jewell and Jimmy Jewell and his grandfather John Jewell.
Date: 2003-10-22
Location: 2900 block of Reed Street
News stories: https://southphillyreview.com/2003/10/30/dead-in-the-street/
