REMEMBERING DAMON

Damon Edward Nason was two years old when he died in March 2008.

Thankfully, Damon's family left behind something the public record so often fails to preserve: memories of who he actually was.

Damon was remembered as a friendly little boy whose smile could light up a room. His obituary even mentions his distinctive hairstyle, one of those tiny details that makes it easier to picture the child behind the case.

He loved bananas.

He enjoyed borrowing his older sister Lexis's toys, apparently with all the respect for property rights one should expect from a two year old. His family also remembered him running around outside, sitting in a rocking chair and playing with the people he loved.

A family friend remembered Damon as active and playful. She recalled pillow fights in the living room, toy dart guns and Damon getting into his sister's makeup.

Damon had an older sister, Lexis, and a younger half brother, Jayden.

He was the son of Jeremy Nason and Tawnya Evans Bryson.

These are small pieces of an extraordinarily short life.

But they matter.

Before Damon became the two year old whose death appeared on Maine's homicide list, he was a little boy with a huge smile, a sister whose toys were apparently also his toys, a love of bananas and a family that expected to watch him grow up.

DAMON’S STORY

In early 2008, Damon lived in East Machias, Maine, with his mother, Tawnya, his stepfather, William Bryson, his four year old sister, Lexis, and his one year old half brother, Jayden. Tawnya and William had married on Valentine's Day, only weeks before Damon's death.

On March 1, 2008, Damon was at home in William's care while his mother was working.

Something happened inside that home that left Damon critically injured.

William initially claimed that he had been giving Damon a bath and had stepped away from the bathroom when the little boy fell in the bathtub.

Damon was taken for emergency medical treatment.

His injuries, however, did not support the explanation of an ordinary bathtub accident.

Maine State Police ultimately classified Damon as a homicide victim and described him as having been beaten to death at his East Machias home.

Information preserved from the investigation described bruising not only to Damon's head but also to his chin, throat and buttocks. A firefighter who responded to the home reportedly noted that Damon was not wet as would have been expected from the account that he had just fallen while bathing.

Damon was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

His injuries were too severe.

Damon died on March 2, 2008.

He was two years old.

Police investigated his death as a homicide.

On March 7, William Bryson was arrested. He was twenty two years old at the time and was charged with manslaughter in the death of his stepson.

The criminal complaint alleged that William had recklessly or with criminal negligence caused Damon's death.

A year later, William would accept criminal responsibility rather than take the case to trial.

JUSTICE FOR DAMON

William Bryson was initially charged with manslaughter following the investigation into Damon's death.

On April 10, 2009, William appeared in Washington County Superior Court and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Justice Kevin Cuddy sentenced him to fifteen years.

Seven and a half years of that sentence were suspended, leaving William to serve seven and a half years in prison.

He was also sentenced to six years of probation.

William L. Bryson

Relationship to Damon: Stepfather

Conviction(s): Manslaughter

Sentence: 15 years, with all but 7½ years suspended; 6 years of probation

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Damon died more than eighteen years ago.

But his family's words show that he did not disappear on March 2, 2008.

Years after his death, people who loved Damon continued returning to his memorial to tell him they missed him.

They remembered his birthdays.

They remembered playing together.

They wondered what he would have looked like as he grew older.

His grandmother wrote that she thought about him every day.

Other relatives remembered the little boy they called Dee, Shortstuff and their little sunshine.

And bananas kept appearing in those memories.

It seems like such an ordinary thing for a child to love.

That is exactly why it matters.

Damon's story contains a homicide investigation, bruises, a manslaughter conviction and a prison sentence.

But none of those things tell us that Damon loved bananas.

They don't tell us that he borrowed Lexis's toys.

They don't tell us that he liked sitting in a rocking chair or that relatives remembered his smile years after they had last seen it.

His obituary does.

His family's memories do.

And those details return something to Damon that descriptions of his death cannot.

His childhood.

Damon should have celebrated his third birthday on July 4, 2008.

Instead, his family celebrated it without him.

There should have been many more birthdays after that one.

There should have been school, friendships and years for that friendly little boy with the distinctive hair and enormous smile to become whoever he was going to be.

Damon was given only two years.

Those two years mattered.

Damon Edward Nason was loved while he was here, and the messages his family continued leaving years after his death make it clear that he remained deeply loved after he was gone.

Abuse Angels remembers Damon Edward Nason.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.