Father Of Slain Teen Turns Tragedy Into Triumph

When a group of unknown gang members gunned down 16-year-old Wendale Davis in April 2006, they stole a good-natured teenage boy with aspirations to become a firefighter from his family, friends, and community.

While authorities work to solve the teen's murder, Wendale's father, Wesley, is working to prevent the social conditions like those that may have spurred his son's killers.

The Wendale Davis Foundation was born out of a senseless murder, and now uses that tragedy as a platform to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth in the community of Bakersfield, Calif. and beyond.

Wesley Davis tells America's Most Wanted that his goal is to positively impact the lives of young men and women who are at risk of falling prey to drugs, gangs, or life on the streets.

It's his hope that by educating, supporting, mentoring and motivating the young adults in his community, they'll learn to make better choices. 

His vision is to build a network of resources to rehabilitate those in need by mentoring young adults and interacting with their families.

When AMW joined Wesley Davis and Bakersfield, Calif. police in revisiting the murder of Davis' 16-year-old son, Wendale, we took the opportunity to also see some of the work that the Wendale Davis Foundation is doing.

AMW producers and crew spent time with Wesley and the staff of the Wendale Davis Foundation.

We saw the Foundation’s mentoring and tutoring program in action and talked with both mentors and students about how the Foundation’s works have profoundly changed lives for the better.

In addition, the Foundation offers the free removal of visible gang and other tattoos, and works to provide young people with recreational and learning opportunities throughout the year.

One particularly compelling -- and controversial -- effort left a powerful impression on John Walsh and the AMW crew.

We walked with Wesley into the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, Calif., a facility where some of the state's most dangerous female offenders serve out their sentences.

But we weren't alone: we were joined by a group of young women whose bad behavior has landed them in a program designed to show them what might result if their objectionable behavior continues.

Wesley will chaperone groups of teenage girls from Bakersfield to the female prison in Chowchilla, and he takes groups of teenage boys to Kern Valley State Prison, a Level IV men’s prison in Delano, Calif.

These teens, some of whom have been referred to the program by a juvenile court judge or their probation officer, are sent to the prison to witness what life on the wrong side of the law is really like.

For these at-risk teens, the inmates paint a dark, harrowing picture of life on the inside. A life where you're known as a number, where you have no free will, and where you're surrounded by hardened criminals.

The inmates we spoke to hope to never see these young women behind bars. Soon enough, the troubled teenagers open up to the women inmates, sharing their own trials and tribulations.

At the end of the day, Wesley Davis hopes that the teenage girls see what their life could become and that they realize that they have choices. For Wesley, the day was about the ability to change behavior and help young adults understand their potential.