Family seeks answers about juvenile justice system

By Jenna Wilson

A year after St. Joseph student Caden Embrey lost his life in an incident involving a gun, his family has questions about whether justice is being served in his death.

Embrey, 15, was a son, grandson and brother. He was also a student who attended Webster Learning Center and touched the lives of many around him.

“I really wish you could have met him. He was one of a kind,” said Dana Miljavac, Embrey’s mother.

It was a year ago, on Feb. 28, 2023, when Embrey’s family received a phone call that changed their lives forever. Embrey had been shot by a friend who was also 15. According to the family, the two boys had a positive relationship.

Embrey’s older brother, Cole Embrey, said he received a phone call from the friend after the incident took place.

“I just got back from hanging out with some friend and he called me,” Cole Embrey said. “I thought it was to talk and argue like we usually do but he started freaking out and yelling, ‘I just shot Caden in the chest.’ I remember yelling and screaming to everybody that we need to hurry up and get there and we sped there.”

Miljavac said she arrived at a home in the 800 block of Mason Road where the shooting occurred and saw her son lying on the floor. She performed CPR on her son until emergency crews were able to transport him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Along with spending each day grieving, Embrey’s family is left with many concerns, including why they didn’t receive what they feel was an intensive investigation regarding the night he was shot.

Due to state laws, court officials aren’t able to go into the specifics of Embrey’s case but did confirm the shooter was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the juvenile court system.

“Let’s just say there was no evidence at all given to us,” Miljavac said. “It was unfortunate because I think that held a lot of the key information to questions that we had like whether they called 911 first. I just think from the very beginning it was all done wrong.”

From the account of what they have been told took place that night, Embrey’s family members feel the shooter should’ve been tried as an adult.

“I don’t know what the intent would be when you pick up a gun, point it at someone and you pull the trigger,” Miljavac said. “I don’t know what the factors were of deciding, how one case can be similar to this one and the suspect is tried as an adult but in another case, in the same sense, you charge the suspect as juveniles. I don’t understand any of it.”

Juvenile vs. Adult

Linda Meyer, Buchanan County Circuit chief juvenile officer, said most cases where a youth is certified to stand trial as an adult include serious offenses such as A and B felonies.

“Involuntary manslaughter is a Class C felony,” Meyer said. “What I think is important for the community to know is that the burden of proof in a juvenile case is the same as the criminal case for an adult that’s charged. We have to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt for our cases and so that certainly impacts what offense the prosecutor may charge the suspect with.”

Unless they are charged with a serious felony, most teens under 18 in Buchanan County typically remain in the juvenile court system rather than being certified and tried as adults.

From 2018 to 2023, only four youth offenders have had their cases transferred to adult court. They include suspects charged in the summer 2023 murder of 15-year-old Carter Smith, also a student at Webster Learning Center who lost his life to gun violence.

Buchanan County’s prosecuting attorney said the age of a juvenile plays a role in how likely it is he or she will be tried as an adult. Teontre Ziyhir Kirby, Kaden Wilfong and Jackson Lee Griffith are accused of second-degree murder in Smith’s death. Kirby and Wilfong were 17 at the time charges were filed while Griffith was 18.

“I think the judge is going to absolutely consider their age because if it’s someone that is younger, the judge is going to try to put them into programs that are available for juveniles,” Prosecutor Michelle Davidson said. “There is the Division of Youth Services that they can be placed in and actually remain in up until they’re adults, which is more likely to be something that may work for a youthful offender that’s 12, 13 and 14 compared to 17 and 18 where they’ll only have a few months in the program.”

Kids and guns

Embrey’s uncle, Timothy Ebling, said he’s concerned about how easily young people can access guns and believes there should be consequences for weapon owners. He said this is the first step to preventing tragedies like Embrey’s.

“I feel like the individual that the gun belongs to, if they haven’t reported it missing or anything like that, they should be charged right then and there with the other individual that’s being charged with using it,” Ebling said.

Davidson said youth gun violence is an issue that starts in several areas, and obtaining a weapon illegally is one of them.

“A lot of juvenile offenders have firearms that they’ve obtained illegally, they’ve bought them off the streets or many other different ways that they shouldn’t have been given access to it,” she said. “Lack of education is also an issue and a reason for why so many accidental shootings happen. It is a multifaceted area that is not a one-solution fix, and so far we’re not making a lot of headway. But I do hope that that certainly we can do something because, as I said, there are so many youth going down that road and we’re seeing an increase in violence, violent offenses, and they’re getting younger and younger.”

As Embrey’s family spends each day grieving, they just want answers that may put their minds at ease.

“Grief is hard and sometimes can look like anger and frustration, and when it presents itself as that, it needs to be met with kindness and compassion and understanding,” said Andi Miljavac, Embrey’s aunt. “Instead, we felt it was matched with anger and it was personal. We still haven’t heard the phone call from that night and his mother has yet to receive the autopsy results.”

Knowing that Embrey’s death was preventable and not having all the answers is difficult, family members said.

“Kids that he hung out with, they’re driving and doing things that he should be doing right now,” said Embrey’s mother. “I think that’s when it’s hard for me the most.”