Family members of a slain Norfolk man struggle to move on with their lives
By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK
Nanette Dean often goes into her son’s bedroom and lies on the side of the bed where he did.
After his death, she straightened the room, folded his shirts and put his dirty clothes in a hamper. But Carlton Dean Jr.’s room mostly remains as it was before he was found fatally shot on Sept. 22 near the family’s Ballentine Place home. On his desk sit his college textbooks and a home repair manual his father told him to read.
Little else has gone back to normal following the unexplained killing. Now, when asked about his day, Carlton Dean Sr. replies with one word: agonizing.
Carlton graduated last year from Maury High School. He was a champion swimmer and went to the state tournament on a relay team. He was attending Tidewater Community College and learning how to run his father’s pest-control business.
They worked together.
At 19, he was a role model for his 16-year-old brother Deion, who grew up taking swim lessons with Carlton.
Most important, he made people happy and made them laugh.
Nanette Dean has so many sympathy cards, she hasn’t gone through all of them. One, from a Maury classmate, is a piece of orange paper folded in half with a note. A hand-drawn medal says “1st Place, Carlton Dean/First in style, swimming and personality.”
Detectives still are investigating Carlton’s death. He was at a party Sept. 21 at a house near 25th Street and Colonial Avenue. He got a ride there with a friend. What happened after he left in the early morning hours remains a mystery.
A 911 caller reported hearing gunfire about 5:45 a.m. in the 2700 block of Vincent Ave ., one block from the family’s home. Police found Carlton’s body near the road.
Was someone out to get him? Was it a random robbery? Was he doing something wrong?
Norfolk Police Department spokesman Chris Amos on Friday said detectives have some good leads.
However, the answers haven’t come yet.
“It would give us some peace of mind to know what happened to our son,” Nanette Dean said. “It’s hard for us to move forward not knowing.”
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