When I finally reached Carol Stevens for an interview about her three sons, the last of them killed late last week in a hail of police gunfire, she said she understood, but first wanted to “consult the Lord.”
I realize now that is typical for this woman who alternately goes by two last names, who says if the Lord wanted me to know her age, He would tell me.
For all of her tough talking and religion-speak, what is apparent is Carol Stevens — or is it Carol Braxton? — is in emotional agony and cannot grieve for her middle boy or two other sons, also killed violently, out of a belief that it is all her fault.
Her middle son, Davlon Reagor, 38, was killed Feb. 26 by Denver police Officer Ed Ash during a traffic stop near East Fifth Avenue and Lafayette Street.
“They hated him, and they didn’t even know him,” is all she will say of her son’s death.
She is a petite, rail-thin woman with striking green eyes that bore into you when you ask of her sons’ pasts, particularly Davlon’s, which includes 37 arrests on drug, theft and menacing charges.
“I don’t know if that’s true,” she says repeatedly. “I would have to look at the records.”
It is only after hours of chatting that Carol Stevens finally speaks of her sons, including her oldest, Royce, stabbed 12 times and killed in 1995 at the Fremont Correctional Center.
Tymone Reagor, her youngest, was shot to death at age 19 in 1993 when a man looking for crack knocked on his door, and he grabbed at the gun the man was holding.
“Growing up, they were such beautiful boys,” Stevens said, for the first time breaking into a smile. She was a working single mother, arranging music and other educational classes for all three, and keeping up with them the best she could.
Royce was gifted and started high school a year early, but drugs and the streets claimed him. This was true of all of her sons, she said after a long, long pause.
“They didn’t understand what a real man was, what one was supposed to be,” she said. “That was my fault. I made mistakes in my relationships, with men.”
By age 17, she said, Royce had discovered gangs and drugs, her attempts at discipline a failure. She too had begun to dabble in drugs.
“I reared my sons on the word of God, but then I put down the word of God,” she said.
Royce first went to prison in 1988. Davlon soon followed.
“Were they bad boys? I know they made mistakes. They were loving, caring and giving young men — I do know that.
“I failed by having unhealthy relationships. That’s not an excuse or blaming anyone. I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I take the pain, too, for what it did to my children.”
Of society, she simply says it had no time for a single woman raising three boys.
“No one, when I was really trying, ever showed compassion for me or my children, and what I was trying to accomplish. I would ask for help — a Boy Scouts scholarship, mentoring. I never got it.”
She tells of the moment last week when Denver police knocked on her door.
“I knew they were not there to bring me good tidings, only bad ones,” Stevens said. She exploded in rage at the officers.
“I made mistakes, but I tried,” she said as we said our goodbyes. I am sorry for the loss of your sons, I added, rising from the table. Stevens pulled her head back into her neck.
“I have not lost my sons,” she admonished. “The Lord told me this. They belonged to Him first. It is what helps me endure. I’ll just wait until we are reunited with Him.”
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com.
