Investigation still ‘active’ into death of boy at city-run Southie program
The death of a 7-year-old boy while in the care of a city-run program has other South Boston youth groups and residents struggling to comprehend the still-unexplained tragedy.
“He wasn’t a member of our club but we feel like he was one of our own,” said Harry Duvall, executive director of the South Boston Boys & Girls Club, where officials sent letters home to parents of its members and huddled with staff following the death of Kyzr Willis.
“It’s been a very difficult couple days in South Boston,” Duvall added.
Lt. Michael McCarthy, a Boston police spokesman, said the investigation into Willis’ death remained “active” yesterday, two days after police found his body 15 yards off the shore of Carson Beach shortly after 7 p.m.
Willis was reported missing from the Curley Community Center at 2:49 p.m. Tuesday, roughly a half-hour after officials said he was last seen at a “drop-in” day program run by the city. Mayor Martin J. Walsh had said that officials were trying to “piece the timeframe together,” including the time before police were alerted.
Boston police declined to release a transcript of the 911 call reporting his disappearance, which McCarthy said is still considered part of the investigation. A spokesman for the state’s medical examiner said the investigation into the cause and manner of Willis’ death also hadn’t been completed as of yesterday.
The Curley Center itself reopened to adults yesterday, without its director, who the city placed on paid leave. The mayor’s office hasn’t named him, but documents produced by the Boston Centers for Youth & Families identified him as Fred Ahern, a former NHL player from the 1970s and South Boston native who grew up in the neighborhood as a star athlete.
Ahern, who didn’t return multiple phone calls yesterday, has been the center’s $97,495-a-year director since 2003. One of his more visible roles has been as emcee each January of the “L Street Brownies” annual polar bear plunge, where dozens of people skip into the icy waters behind the bathhouse where Kyzr disappeared this week.
Kevin Lally, who runs Southie’s Babe Ruth League and CYO athletic teams, said Ahern is considered a “leader.”
“I’ve never heard a complaint from anybody about mismanagement” at the Curley Center, he said. “Sometimes you’ll hear from someone about a certain gym or building that there’s no discipline, there’s no one watching anyone. I’ve never heard anything but positive.”