Montgomery Family Left with Grief, Questions After Son Hangs Himself in Jail Cell

Devin Jaros was a good kid, but he was a teenager, and like most teenagers, they sometimes make decisions that aren’t in their best interest.

On Friday, Sept. 16, Jaros, 19, of Montgomery, was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon, fleeing or attempting to elude police, driving with a suspended license and driving without lights, LaSalle County Sheriff Tom Templeton told the Chicago Tribune.

During the early morning hours of Sept 17, Jaros was placed in a cell with two other inmates. At 11 p.m. that evening, he was found hanging in it. He had used torn jail cell sheets to do it.

Jaros’ parents, Jason and Patricia, then received a phone call no parent ever wants to get. Their son was being rushed to a Peoria hospital. They jumped in their car and rushed there, too.

"I just wanted to make sure I saw him alive," Jason Jaros told the Tribune. "I didn't want him to die alone."

Jason and Patricia were informed of the terrible decision they’d have to make. Their son, while being kept alive on life support, was for all intents and purposes, brain dead.

"The doctors informed us his brain activity had continued to decrease and even if he stabilized, he would never come back in any way, shape or form to the way we knew him," Jaros said in the article. "Even if he lived, he'd be brain dead, and we decided that's not how we would want him or how he would want to be."

They made the difficult decision to cut off life support.

During Devin’s teen years, he and his father had a “rocky relationship.” All teenagers want their freedom, but it’s a parent’s job to know when to limit that freedom. So, their relationship was not always the best. But Jason loved his son and wanted what’s best for him.

Devin got in with a bad crowd, according to the article. He was straying from the path his family wanted him on. But still, he had hopes and dreams like any other teen. He wanted to be a college football coach. He even helped out with the wrestling team at Marseilles Elementary, his alma mater.

"I think it helped his self-esteem and made him feel like he had a place where he was important other than home," his father told the Tribune.

So now, with grief still striking daily for his parents, it’s questions they have. How did this happen? Why didn’t the two men in the jail cell with him stop him? According to the report, they were in the cell with him when he was found, but no foul play is suspected. Details are few, but the questions are many.

"Of course we want to know how it can happen in the day and age of cameras, with other people in the room," Jaros told the paper. "There are a lot of questions."

photo via Shutterstock