Renee Brookshire’s last conversation with her son, Benny Galvan, ended abruptly.

The phone just cut off without warning. She tried to call him back, but hours slipped by without a response and a slew of messages went unanswered.

Her mother’s instinct kicked in.

“I just knew in my heart, when Sunday morning came, and then Monday came, and then Tuesday, something was wrong,” she said.

Galvan’s body was found in a canal near 151st and Windward avenues in Goodyear on Sept. 8. He was last seen alive on Sept. 5, when he left his home and “possibly” traveled with other individuals to a location in Avondale, according to a media release.

The weeks since have been a “nightmare” for the family, Brookshire said at a news conference alongside her husband at Phoenix police headquarters on Saturday morning.

“I wake up every morning and it’s like, how do you find joy?” she said.

She remembered her son as a “great kid” who had an encyclopedic knowledge of sports — especially as it pertained to his favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Brookshire said she wishes she could tell her son how well the team is doing now, saying he would be “so happy.”

Both she and her husband, Tim Brookshire, said some of their favorite moments with their son was watching Sunday football. They recalled watching him scream at the television, as if the coaches or players could hear him.

“Now that football’s back on I don’t even want to look at it — I hate it,” she said.

Among the most difficult things for them to grapple with, they said, has been explaining the situation to Galvan’s siblings. He had three brothers — a 24-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old.

“My 3-year-old will ask to call Benny and I have to tell him ‘Benny’s with Jesus now,'” she said, through tears. “So we pray at night and he says, ‘Please Jesus, give Benny a kiss for us.'”

Brookshire said she and Galvan talked every day, and that he never missed a chance to tell his family he loved them.

“Everybody loved Benny,” she said. “He was the life of the party, and he is very dearly missed.”

Ever since his death, she’s been spending the minutes before she lays down for another sleepless night replaying old voice messages to hear the comforting words of “I love you” from her son.

“As her husband … we like to try to fix everything, and this is something I just can’t fix,” Tim Brookshire said. “I want to bring him back, but I know I can’t. It’s been really, really hard on our family.”

He said their family’s religious beliefs have given them some peace, but he added that “this is something that has the ability to shake a person in their faith.”

“Doubt comes up — how could this happen, how could this be allowed to happen?” he said, before adding that reading scripture helps him remain “steadfast” in his beliefs.

“I find peace that Benny knew God and he loved Him,” Renee Brookshire said. “He wasn’t perfect, but he loved God, and I know that God has him now. But it’s just hard because I miss him and I want more time with him.”

As part of her grieving process, Brookshire said she returned to the canal where her son’s body was found.

“I wanted to go out there to see if it was real,” she said. “And kind of look around and see what my baby was looking at in his last moments, and to see if there was anything I could find that was his that I could take back, or maybe see a sign that he was trying to show me, I just needed that.”

The family is hoping their tearful pleas won’t be in vain, and that anyone with information will reach out to law enforcement.

“He was someone — he meant something to us,” Tim Brookshire said. “And someone is responsible for taking that away from us.”

He said it would “mean the world” for anyone with information — whether they believe it’s relevant or not — to come forward.

Though they acknowledged that it won’t bring back their son, they said it would vastly improve their ability to work through their grief.

“I want to know what his last words were, whoever was with him, what was he saying?” she said. “Was he crying out to God or was he asking for me? Was he asking for help? Just anything, I want to know what my baby was asking for and why, why did it happen.”

Despite the seemingly insurmountable pain she and her family are feeling, Renee Brookshire said she doesn’t hate whoever’s responsible for her son’s death.

“I forgive you, but I’m angry and I’m hurt and I just need that closure,” she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO. Anonymous tips can also be left on the organization’s website.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8529. Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank. 

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