By Rick Madewell
Assistant Editor

Jessica Lynn Muller died a horrific death Feb. 19 at the hands of her longtime boyfriend, Theodore Johnson, who took his own life a short time later.

Her young son, Hunter, is now an orphan.

The tragedy of the young woman’s untimely death tugged at the heartstrings of practically all residents in this community — hit not only with the tremendous grief of losing one of their own, but also the shared pain of seeing a 3-year-old boy without his parents.

After the woman’s memorial services, Teresa Everett, a very close friend who worked at Prudential Results Realty with Jessica, began to organize an event to celebrate and honor her short life that would also serve as a benefit for her son.

“I had tremendous help and support in putting the event together … especially from our Prudential family,” Everett said, adding that Sarah Nguyen of Prudential was her right-hand woman in all of this. “I couldn’t have done it without her.”

Aside from working full-time at Prudential, Everett is part owner of the Drunken Parrot Saloon in St. Cloud. When she and others who work at the tavern discovered management at the nearby Soldier City bar – a competitor – was planning a concert event to raise money for Hunter, the two groups came together to pool staffs and resources for a daylong benefit and celebration.

“Jeff Rinehart (who runs the Soldier City bar) was very helpful and gracious in teaming up for this incredible benefit,” Everett said.

A poker run, of sorts, was initially planned to raise money for a trust fund for Hunter, to help give him a good start with his future. When all of the creative minds were put together for the April 17 event, the result was more of a scavenger hunt, with clues sending participants to various spots in the area to round up tokens and an eventual picture of a coiled cobra (a quick stop by the Serpentarium in St. Cloud).

The whole adventure had to be done quickly, with the least amount of mileage possible, so participants had to decide the most direct route possible to reach their destinations. The eventual winner of the contest – Barbara Cannon, of Kissimmee –  gave the $100 top prize back to help Hunter, who is now being raised by Jessica’s parents, Jay and Brenda Muller, in Kissimmee. There also was a 50-50 raffle, the winner of which gave back the entire $350 to the cause. The band Continuum also donated all of the tips it made throughout the day to Hunter’s welfare.

Throughout the day, several residents and participants in the event wore T-shirts with a cross on the front bearing the words, “Just Live More.” The words were taken, said Everett, from the initials of Jessica’s name — Jessica Lynn Muller. At times during the day, members of Jessica’s parents’ church, the Vine Church of Kissimmee, served food from the Drunken Parrot.

Band-wise, the event ended up with a few that graciously performed – Gator Band, Trainwreck Band, Speakeasy Band and Papa Wheelee. And when the bands were done, a few others carried on the entertainment, said Everett, who mentioned Jack Wallace, Tim Tackett and their friends for taking over after Papa Wheelee’s performance and entertaining the crowd until the event’s close.

When the day was over, the event had pulled in close to $10,000.

Because of their close relationship, Everett said the day of the fundraiser was, at times, extremely tough on her.

“I will admit, speaking to the benefit participants during the event itself was a little difficult at moments and I am not ashamed to say I choked up when the youth band who played for free that day at the Parrot gave back all of the tips they’d made that day to the trust fund,” she said. “I think the overall support we had for the whole event helped me personally get through the sadness of the tragedy and really focus on the good that was done that day.”

Everett and Jessica had worked together at Prudential Results Realty for some time. Everett, the transaction manager with the realty, described her relationship with Jessica as very close.

“Jessica was considerably younger, actually my oldest son’s age, so I guess I probably took more of a motherly role in our friendship,” Everett said. “She was best friends with another young gal here at the office that I am very close to, so we all became friends at work.”

That relationship grew even more after Everett became a part-owner at the Drunken Parrot last year.

“When we opened the Drunken Parrot, the two girls would come in once or twice a week and hang out, so the relationship grew through both work and the bar,” Everett said. “She was a fabulous person, friend and mom. Jessica was very quiet and was the type who would be concerned with someone having a problem or issue over her own. She was very nurturing, especially given her young age.”

“I knew her for 12 years and she was the best friend I could have ever asked for,” Kristin Bearce, her friend at Prudential, said. “She had so many good people in her life and touched so many people in her life, which showed by the overall amount of people that came to Hunter’s benefit.”

As a lasting tribute, Everett said she would attempt to make the scavenger hunt an annual event.

The trust fund set up in Hunter Muller’s name has been established at CenterState Bank.

Establishments that participated in the Scavenger Hunt

Silver Dollar

Third Base Pub

Coaches Corner

Len’s Pub

Buffalo Wild Wings

Drunken Parrot Saloon

Food donated to Parrot and Soldier City:

VinnyBarber: Bar-ber-q

Sonny’s Bar-b-que

Bella Romas Pizza

Donors of raffle and auction items:

Keep me Kozy

Cresent Tea and Coffee

Deweys Classic Cuts

Soldier City

Drunken Parrot Saloon

Hershey Florist

Horseshoes & Handgrenades Tattoo

Koffee Kup Café

The Other Place

Pro Auto Detail

Remington Golf Club

Mutts

Stonebridge

Auto Clinic

B&C Mower

Catfish Place

Cobblestone

Diana’s Barber Shop

Hair It Is

Razor’s Edge

Handyman Hardware

Tupperware

Lewis Music

Jammers

Motorcycle Clinic

Cunningham’s Inc

Cindy & Sean DeCoster – Prudential

Bass Ass Betty’s

Dan Lieberman – personal donation of gift card

Damien Trabold – donated handmade stainless license plates

Dr. Chappel

Sincerely Yours

Dr. Pope

Andrew Owen — donated piano lessons for over $100.

Nancy DiPasqua – personal donation of Starbucks gift card

Beef O’Brady’s, St. Cloud

Tiki Tanning

Coach’s Corner

VIP Nail Salon

Real Deal Lawn Care

Armadillo Red Tattoo

Elizabeth Morales – donated two handmade jewelry sets

Debbie Perry – personal donation of gift set

Serendipity

Sarah Nguyen – personal donations of several items for raffle

Kissimmee Bay Golf Club

John Emmons TaeKwondo Academy

Blair Harris – Farm Bureau

Bliss-Ology Boutique

Arabian Knights

Cracker House Saloon

Boing Jump Center

Steve Getling – personal donation of gift cards

Donna Mattox “The Flower Lady” – personal donation of four Easter baskets

Sue Vazquez – personal donation of seven gift cards

Mullinex Ford

Thompson Jewelers

Yates Chiropractic Associates

Sunshine State Cleaning

Summer Jennings Photography

Sign O’Rama - two “in memory” banners

TBD Handyman

Radisson Resorts Creative Printing

Joe Doher – donated two all-inclusive tickets to Magic game 5, sky box seats. The raffle for these tickets made $650.

In addition, each of the bands that played did so on their own time without compensation.

Bartenders at both Soldier City and Drunken Parrot contributed by giving all or a portion of their tips made that day to the trust fund.