PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A suspect accused of fatally stabbing a Palm Beach Gardens teenager more than four years ago is set to go to trial Friday. The case centers on the brutal killing of 14-year-old Ryan Rogers, whose life was cut short in November 2021.
Rogers was riding his bike near his home when police said he was randomly attacked and stabbed to death by Semmie Williams Jr., a "homeless drifter" who had no ties to the community or the teen.
WATCH BELOW: 'Homeless drifter' to go on trial in fatal stabbing of Palm Beach Gardens teen
On the day of the attack, Nov. 15, 2021, Rogers told his mother he was going for a bike ride around 6:40 p.m. It was the last time she would see him alive.
Less than an hour later, investigators said the boy crossed paths with Williams along Central Boulevard.
At 7:31 p.m., the teen's motion watch stopped moving. Police believe that's when Williams brutally attacked Rogers, stabbing him multiple times, leaving his body in a wooded area near the overpass.
The boy's body was found the next morning, along with bloody headphones that police said tested positive for Williams' DNA.
"It appears to be an absolute chance encounter between a child on a bicycle and an animal," Clint Shannon, who was the police chief of the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department in 2021.
Officers arrested Williams 15 days later in Miami and said more evidence, including a bloodstained bandana, was found in his bag.
Despite being more than four years ago, Rogers' death still feels fresh for those living in Palm Beach Gardens, especially on the soccer field where the teen thrived.
"Ryan was a wonderful, vibrant, exciting, young, polite, future athlete. It was just a wonderful, wonderful child," said David Craven, who was the director of the Palm Beach Gardens Youth Athletic Association in 2021. It was an organization that Rogers was a part of since he was 4-years-old.
Craven said he still wonders about what the young athlete could have accomplished.
"We think about it. We talk about it all the time," Craven said.
His goal since losing Ryan has been to keep his name alive.
"It's a new generation coming up. ... We need them to know and to remember," Craven said while sitting on a bench dedicated to Ryan.
With jury selection scheduled to begin Friday, Craven said people like Williams "need to not be on our streets."
Dave Aronberg, who was the Palm Beach County state attorney at the time the teen was killed, and also filed the murder charges against Williams, said, "There are only two choices, death or life in prison."
Aronberg initially sought the death penalty for Williams. But in 2024, although several doctors deemed Williams competent to stand trial, two years before a judge blocked the death penalty due to mental illness.
"The mental health issues, it's the big elephant in the room here," Aronberg said. "People who have no mental health issues generally don't commit crimes like this. The question is whether you meet the standard of insanity under the law."
The former state attorney said he is curious to see what the defense's strategy will be once this trial begins.
For those who knew Rogers and witnessed what his family has endured, justice is paramount.
"Justice needs to be served, as Ryan's mother said to me recently, she doesn't want to relive any more darkness, so justice needs to be served, and very swiftly," Craven said.
Court documents show the trial could extend into next month.
After Ryan was killed, the community initiated a project to add street lights to the portion of Central Boulevard where the attack occurred. The community coined the project "Lights for Ryan," but the lights were never installed.
WPTV is still pushing for answers as to why the project has been halted for more than four years.
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