After The Verdict “It Felt Like My Son Was Murdered Twice” says Tracy Doeman
As told to TNN Reporter Trevor Lindsay
After nearly three years of grief and waiting, Tracy Doeman walked into Bermuda’s Supreme Court with heavy hope. She sat for almost eight weeks, listening intently to the evidence presented in the trial of four men accused of murdering her son. And after all that time, all those days, she was met with two words that shattered her: “Not guilty.”
“When I heard that verdict, it felt like my son was murdered a second time.”
• THE LOSS OF A SON
On July 1st, 2022, Tracy received the phone call no mother ever wants. Her son had been shot ten times in the Flats, Smith-Parish area. According to court proceedings, her son wasn’t even the intended target.
“He was sacrificed for the friends he loved. That’s what hurts the most.”
Since that day, her world has been shaped by two dates:
• July 1, 2022 – the day her son’s life was taken.
• May 29, 2025 – the day justice failed him.
And now tomorrow, July 1, 2025, marks three years without his presence.
• THE MOTHER’S GRIEF
“How am I? If I’m honest, I don’t even know. I’m broken. Devastated. And most of all—disappointed.”
Tracy describes the moment of the verdict as a brutal reopening of wounds she’s tried to heal. Sitting in that courtroom, hearing the lies, watching the footage, knowing her son had no justice—it left her numb.
“What hurts even more is knowing he wasn’t even the one they were after.”
• A SON REMEMBERED
Tracy paints a vivid picture of a son full of life, purpose, and love. He was her protector from the beginning—looking after her even as a toddler.
“When I came home late from work, he’d be waiting for me. One year old. Tucking me in. Saying, ‘Mommy, you OK?’”
At six years old, he left her a poem:
“A place that’s safe is what you think in love and life.”
He was a visionary with a heart for his community. Six foot three, 259 pounds—but to her, always her ten-pound baby. He was affectionately known as “The Real One.”
“He was the friend who calmed the chaos. The man of reason. He had dreams—real dreams—to help the youth, to sell goods at affordable prices, to build something better.”
• MORE THAN A LABEL
Tracy is adamant that her son was misrepresented.
“He wasn’t a gang member. That’s what they want to say. That’s what they want to believe. But he wasn’t.”
She clarifies a misunderstood name: FRS.
“FRS didn’t stand for Frizzle’s Hill. FRS stood for For Real Shotas. Not shooters—shotas. Men with heart. Men with loyalty. Men with vision.”
He understood the systems designed to trap young Black men. He wanted to beat that system—and bring his brothers with him.
• WHERE US JUSTICE NOW ?
“This trial broke me again. Because now I don’t just grieve my son—I grieve the justice we never received.”
Tracey has no questions about who did it. She saw the videos. She heard the evidence. She sat through the lies.
“Now I’m left wondering—how do I fight for justice from here?”
• A MOTHER’S PROMISE
Through pain, Tracy is determined not to let her son’s story fade. She believes in honoring him not with silence, but with truth.
“He was real. He was love. He was purpose. And he was mine.”
To be continued…
This is Part Two of the ongoing series, “Moms That Endure the Murders of Their Sons.”
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