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Mother advocates for changes to mental health care system after son is found dead in James City County

Daily Press - 2/24/2023

Growing up, Jad Tyler Blair liked to joke around with his two brothers and a cousin. He enjoyed playing basketball and making music.

He was a “jovial kind of kid,” said his mother, Carmen Blair.

But Jad also fought mental health issues as he grew older. When he became an adult, it became increasingly hard for his mother to help him.

Blair last heard from her son late last year. On Jan. 25, his body was found floating in a pond in a New Town neighborhood.

There are still many questions surrounding how the James City County man, who was 21, ended up in the pond — his body spotted by someone walking by in the 5000 block of Olive Drive. Police are still investigating, although they have repeated that they don’t suspect foul play. His mother, however, worries that her son’s mental health may have played a part.

Since Jad’s death, his family has been trying to raise funds to cover funeral expenses. His body has yet to be released from the medical examiner’s office.

“It’s just about him right now,” Blair said. “We have no insurance on him, and I don’t know where to turn when they release his body. We need to get him buried. We know we’re having a service, and so the money’s really going towards him.”

Jad was almost 7 years old when Blair — who owns Carmen’s Jamaican Authentic Cuisine, a food truck that travels around Williamsburg and throughout the Peninsula — began fostering him. Three years later, she said, she adopted him and devoted herself to providing him a good life.

Jad grew up with his biological brothers and cousin in the Williamsburg area, near the Queens Lake community, and he attended Magruder Elementary School and Queens Lake Middle School. He graduated from Bruton High School in 2019.

“He’s getting a whole bunch of love right now from family members and friends that grew up with him in high school and in Queens Lake,” said Jad’s 26-year-old brother, Jaquille Fyffe. Friends have been sharing memories of what they remember about Jad.

“He did this school talent show, and he had everybody in there hootin’ and hollerin’ because he did like this Michael Jackson dance-off thing,” Fyffe said. “That’s just his nature. He loves to entertain people. He’s a jokester, and he entertains. The whole community knows that and loved him for that.”

When it came to something that he wanted to do, Jad would set his mind to it no matter what, Fyffe added. “In that moment, he would never give up. He would say, ‘I’m going to get it done, I’m going to get it done.’ But in circumstances where he couldn’t get it done, it would just take a toll on him.”

As Jad got older, his mother said, he struggled with mental illness.

Blair said it became tougher on the family as the years went on. As an adult, Jad began having difficulty holding a steady job. He often didn’t have a permanent place to stay. He ended up “couch surfing and checking himself into hotels,” Blair said. Through it all, Blair continued to help as much as she could, she said.

“He couldn’t continue living with me, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t love him,” Blair said.

Jad’s death has prompted Blair to start advocating for changes to the mental health system in Virginia. She said that she plans on reaching out to state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Charlottesville because of his own experiences advocating for changes in the mental health field.

In 2013, Deeds’ son, Gus, was released from an emergency hold at a Virginia hospital because there were no psychiatric beds available for him that evening. In the morning, he stabbed his father before dying by suicide. Since then, Deeds has worked to make changes to the state’s mental health system.

“He was the one who came up with the 72-hour rule, where if you have a person that is mentally ill, you find a hospital to send them. So, even if a hospital in your area is not open, you have to call the whole state to find a hospital with a bed,” Blair explained.

Blair, who graduated with a degree in human services from Old Dominion University while raising Jad, said she had to get a part-time job to help out with in-home services. She always thought he needed more, she said.

“We need to fix some of the laws and add new ones because these mentally ill people sometimes start from school, and we can see the behavioral things starting from the time they’re in school,” she said. “There are some things in place; he just fell through the cracks.”

Through the years, Jad received mental health services from Colonial Behavioral Health and Riverside Behavioral Health Center, his mother said.

Angela Arcieri, a spokeswoman with Riverside Health System, said she couldn’t comment on any patient, citing privacy laws. She reiterated that Riverside’s Behavioral Health Center is available “24/7, 365 days a year, and is there to support those in the community struggling with mental and behavioral health concerns and substance abuse.”

Blair said she and her family are thankful for everyone who has supported the family.

“Jad is, and was loved by so many who knew him and I’m finding it hard to stay focused,” she wrote on her business’ Facebook page earlier this week. “I still need answers.”

Dominic Catacora, 757-798-9833, dominic.catacora@virginiamedia.com

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