SLAIN TEEN'S PARENTS HOPE CASH, BILLBOARDS YIELD TIPS.

THONOTOSASSA - -- Three months without an arrest in the death of their
son prompted a Thonotosassa couple this week to offer a $10,000 reward
and to make plans for a billboard campaign to raise awareness.

Seventeen-year-old Chad Lynch died July 14 at Tampa General Hospital
after being shot in the chest while sitting in a parked car in an
apartment building lot at 6806 N. 56th St.

Investigators said he and a friend had just purchased some marijuana
nearby when a dark, possibly black, Cadillac pulled up behind the
boys' car and a gunman got out demanding cash.

When the teens refused and Lynch grabbed at the gun, the gunman
stepped back and shot him before leaving, investigators said.

Investigators told Lynch's parents, Dick and Paula, that the bullet in
their son's chest came from a small, .22-caliber weapon and that the
fingerprints on the car he was shot in could not be identified, Paula
Lynch said.

Detective Steve Lewis on Wednesday said investigators were operating
on a limited description of the gunman, described as a black man, 5
feet 9 inches tall, with a medium build. He wore dark clothing and a
dark ball cap.

One decent lead came from a Crime Stoppers call, but it has not panned
out, Lewis said.

Lewis said a billboard is a good idea that can only help the case. "It
will hopefully generate some leads, especially if put in the area
where it occurred," he said.

The family asks that anyone with information call Lewis at (813) 247-
8000.

The Lynches considered offering a reward almost immediately after the
slaying, but grieving the loss while attempting to give their two
younger daughters a seminormal life has eaten up much of the past
three months.

"We've been a mess," Paula Lynch said Wednesday night. "The Life
Center has been a great help at counseling for us."

The Life Center of the Suncoast Inc. is a nonprofit agency that
counsels people dealing with traumatic circumstances such as a death,
serious illness or crime.

The situation still doesn't feel real, she said. "It's like he's gone
away on a trip or something."

Their son's cremated remains rest in an engraved stone box on an
entertainment center shelf. He would have been a senior at Armwood
High School this year.

His mother spreads on a coffee table several photographs taken in his
last year, including one showing a shirtless, tanned Chad Lewis
turning toward the camera from the helm of a boat on the Gulf of Mexico.

"The prime of his life," Rick Lynch said, looking at the broad-
shouldered teen. "His weight set is still outside. He was proud of his
body."

The photos and memories are good but still difficult for both
parents.

"This house is too quiet, now," his mother said, walking from the
living room and choking back tears. "I'm used to him bouncing around."

The bedroom at the back of the family home holds baseball and football
trophies, weight training sets and autographed posters of buxom
blondes, revealing the teen's interests.

The room is nearly unchanged from the night Chad Lynch left it, except
for the addition of a few photos, a hand-made memorial poster with the
Tribune article about his death and a letter taped on the soft-blue
wall opposite his bed.

The teen wrote the letter about a year before his death as a class
assignment. It expresses how much love and gratitude he felt for his
parents. For the Lynches, it's a treasure.

"We thank God for the 17 years we did have with him," his mother said.
"We definitely know our lives will never be the same."