CAPE CORAL – Cape Coral marks a somber milestone as the community remembers a tragedy that struck 50 years ago. The murder of young Jason Verdow changed the city forever, and his memory continues to resonate with those who knew him.<\/p>\n
Tom Gorton, Jason’s baseball coach, shared his memories of the boy.<\/p>\n
“When I first met him? He was late for practice,” said Gorton. “I had practice at Cape Elementary School, and all the kids were there, but he wasn’t, so I looked across the field, and here he comes, walking.”<\/p>\n
Gorton coached Jason on two teams, the Indians and the Yankees.<\/p>\n
“He was with his dad at the country club because his dad worked at the country club, and that’s why he was late,” said Gorton, recalling the day with emotion.<\/p>\n
Jason’s energy and enthusiasm left a lasting impression on Gorton and his son, Tom Gorton Jr.<\/p>\n
“This is 50 years ago, but I still remember him being like, like, very peppy, very energetic, very ready to play ball,” said Gorton Jr.<\/p>\n
The Gortons have kept a lineup card from those days, its ink fading but the memories vivid.<\/p>\n
“He was a lefty pitcher, lefty catcher. He played first base, but I remember him being really good,” said Gorton Jr.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, Cape Coral was a growing community where children played freely and doors were left unlocked. But that sense of safety was shattered on March 5, 1976.<\/p>\n
“His mother called me up,” said Gorton. “She said he didn’t come home from school.”<\/p>\n
Gorton Jr. also recalled the day vividly.<\/p>\n
“I remember the day that you knew he was killed, on my birthday, March 5, 76,” he said.<\/p>\n
Jason was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered by Arthur Goode III, who had a history of molesting children in the Northeast. Goode was later arrested, convicted, and executed in Florida in 1984.<\/p>\n
“The day it happened, I took a deep breath,” said Gorton.<\/p>\n
The crime had a profound impact on Cape Coral, altering the community’s perception of safety.<\/p>\n
“It changed the community, I think, opened the eyes of some people in the community,” said Gorton. “But it just seems like people, a lot of people, forgot about it.”<\/p>\n
For those who knew Jason, forgetting was never an option.<\/p>\n
“It’ll be 50 years since Jason’s passing,” said Gorton Jr. “I remember at least once a year, or not more.”<\/p>\n
Jason Verdow Memorial Park now stands where he once played baseball, a tribute to his memory and a place where new generations learn the game he loved.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want people to forget why, while that plaque is up there, and what the whole story is about,” said Gorton. “It’s such a positive place up there to go up there, I can go up and just sit in the car and watch the kids play.”<\/p>\n
The field remains a place of remembrance, with Gorton’s grandson now playing there, bridging generations.<\/p>\n
“One of his teachers, after all this took place about five years ago, gave me a slip of paper with him that he was writing,” said Gorton. “He was only, I think it was in his second grade, and said, my name is Jason Verdow, and I want to become a baseball player.”<\/p>\n
Jason’s dreams live on in the hearts of those who remember him, ensuring he is never forgotten in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL – Cape Coral marks a somber milestone as the community remembers a tragedy that struck 50…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[85205,85207,209,211,210,85206,7561,5593,28,85204,85203,34829],"class_list":["post-180193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-baseball-coach","tag-baseball-player","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-elementary-school","tag-coral","tag-energy","tag-florida","tag-lefty-catcher","tag-lefty-pitcher","tag-precious-coral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}