Youngstown, Ohio police identified the body of a former Portsmouth resident 25 years after her remains were discovered inside an abandoned housing project in Youngstown.
This is not breaking news. Youngstown Police made the identification back in April of last year, but I only recently learned about it, and I wanted to share it because I thought America Francis Williams deserved that much.
When her body was discovered back on Halloween in 1995, it was so badly decomposed that police could not identify her. They were never able to determine a cause of death. Twenty-six years later, in April of 2021, they were able to use a partial piece of her jaw to match with dental records.
I’m not sure when America Francis (who was often called Fran) left Portsmouth. I went grade school at Garfield and Middle School at McKinley with her, but I don’t remember her after that. For a few years, she lived across the sidewalk from me in Wayne Hills at 1818 Kendall Avenue.
Back in early 2021, some of us from Garfield Elementary were talking about whatever happened to America. We Googled, but her name didn’t come up at all. Shortly after our searching, Youngstown Police launched an appeal to help them identify the remains of a woman who had gone unclaimed for 25 years. One of our classmates, Liz, thought of America again a couple of weeks ago and did some more Googling.
She discovered that while the rest of us from Garfield were out in the world becoming writers, teachers, nurses, the Mayor and City Manager of Portsmouth, moms and dads, and grandparents and the occasional convicted felon, America Francis Williams was left unclaimed and unidentified. When we saw the photo of grown-up America, we knew it was the same girl because she had the same dimple.
I remembered America as kind of a mean kid who got into a lot of fights. Others remembered scrapping with her as well.
But I always thought of her when I met or heard of someone else named America. I also always thought of her when people talk about school paddling. America got the board a lot at Garfield. Sometimes for fighting, but also for stuff like not turning in permission slips or not having forms signed by her mom.
As a neighbor, I knew what the teacher probably did not. At the time, America’s mom seemed to be having some issues. Sometimes America went to school with uncombed hair. Her mom kept the doors and windows shut, and it didn’t seem like her mom was looking after her. I caught snippets from grown-ups talking about Mrs. Williams. But I don’t know what the problem was or if it was something that was ongoing. The poor woman could have been ill or having some type of rough patch. And I could be totally off base because these are the memories of a grade school girl. But it did seem to me at the time that America was going through some stuff, and I felt terrible for her when she got paddled even though I thought she was kind of mean. But you never know what people are going through.
I had a friend who lived in Youngstown in the late 1990s. I spent several weekends there, and it makes me sad to know that while I was attending concerts and enjoying Handel’s Ice Cream, poor America was there, unclaimed and unknown.
Former Mayor, Kevin E. Johnson, who was also our classmate, commented: Thank you so much for caring and sharing. I’ve often wondered whatever happened to Fran, also.
I’ve even attempted to find her on FB, knowing the name, America, shouldn’t be difficult to find.
I’m completely heartbroken to read of such a tragedy happening to end her life and pray she finally has peace in her life.
I knew a different Fran.
The young girl I knew was a lot like all of us Wayne Hills kids. She lived in poverty, she probably didn’t have the best of life at home, and yes, sometimes grooming wasn’t the top priority. But, I also remember those cute dimples when she smiled, I remember her temper when I’d beat her to the best Grit newspapers selling spot, Clark’s (department store, not pump-n-shop). Lol, We both competed in selling those newspapers.
I also remember sneaking and smoking cigarettes with Fran….
Again, it’s my hope that Fran has finally found peace and a new life in God’s Heaven.
I hope she rests in peace. I hope her surviving family found solace knowing what happened to her after all these years. And I hope she knows that she was never forgotten.
