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Little boy 'came first in her life'

When Charvanette Mitchell gave birth to Jovan, she resolved to do her best for him, her grandmother says.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published December 21, 2005

	[Special to the Times]
	Jovan Mitchell, 4, died of a gunshot wound to the head on Sunday at his home in Tampa.

TAMPA - Charvanette Mitchell woke up every morning before dawn and waited with her 4-year-old son, Jovan, for the first of three buses that would take them to his Head Start program near downtown Tampa.

Mitchell, 18, slept on the floor of her new apartment because she didn't have a bed. But she made sure Jovan had a bed and a television in his Spider-Man-themed bedroom.

She used her paychecks to buy him movie tickets, bubble gum and food from McDonald's, his favorite place to eat.

"That was her one and only baby," said Mitchell's paternal grandmother, Rosalyn Davis, 58, who lives in eastern Hillsborough County. "He came first in her life."

Jovan died Sunday as his mother napped. He pulled the trigger on a loaded 9mm gun he found inside their apartment. A single bullet to the head sent his little body crumpling to the floor.

The medical examiner has ruled the death accidental, but sheriff's investigators are trying to determine who left the gun in the second-story apartment east of Tampa.

Mitchell could face criminal charges, depending on what detectives find. Under Florida law, anyone who stores a loaded gun around children must keep the firearm in a locked box, or somewhere secure from the child's reach.

Mitchell was with her sister Tuesday and could not be reached. But as detectives continued investigating, Mitchell's relatives portrayed her as a loving mother who - despite being young and single - was building a life for her little boy.

Mitchell had Jovan before she was old enough to drive, but Davis said Jovan gave Mitchell purpose.

She never did well in school, but his birth prompted her to pass a GED test and to enroll in college classes at Florida Metropolitan University, according to relatives.

Caring for Jovan kept Mitchell away from brushes with the law that marked her childhood, said Davis.

"She was always mischievous, got into trouble, didn't like going to school," Davis said. "But she's come a long way."

Mitchell was born in Tampa, the second of five children from teenage parents. She was such a chubby baby that her family nicknamed her Peaches.

Mitchell's father, Arviel Jenkins, has a lengthy criminal history dating back to his early 20s for crimes including drug possession, according to state records.

Mitchell's mother, Cherissee Mitchell, was in and out of jail from the time Charvanette Mitchell was a young child. Her crimes included larceny and grand theft.

Davis raised Mitchell. But Davis said Mitchell missed her mother, and she started getting into trouble early.

Her first arrest came at age 9, when Tampa police charged her with battery on a school official, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

By age 12, Mitchell had been arrested four more times for battery, according to the FDLE. The details of those arrests and the outcomes of the cases are not public record because Mitchell was a juvenile.

Davis said Mitchell attended alternative schools before she got pregnant with Jovan.

Mitchell had always wanted a baby, and Davis thinks the pregnancy was intended.

Mitchell lived in a local home for young mothers when Jovan was born in April 2001. Then she moved back in with Davis. Jovan's father was not around, Davis said.

Mitchell's only arrest after Jovan's birth came in August 2004, when Hillsborough sheriff's deputies charged her with writing a bad check. When Mitchell turned 18 in September, she decided it was time for her and Jovan to try to fend for themselves.

With money from her job at TeleTech, a call center east of Tampa, Mitchell moved into the small apartment at 5030 E Sligh Ave., in the Hunters Pointe North apartment complex. It is around the corner from Davis' home.

"She was always giving him love," Davis said.

Tuesday, the apartment was quiet. Business cards from reporters were tucked inside the door jam. But Mitchell was not there to answer their questions.

She was planning her son's funeral.

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is giving away free gun locks as part of a national program aimed at promoting safe and responsible firearms ownership and storage. The locks can be picked up at any of the agency's four district offices. For more information, call (813) 247-8000.

[Last modified December 21, 2005, 13:01:47]