Friends of homeless homicide victim honor his memory by caring for his best friend

Tehya the pit bull spends her weekdays at United Samaritans Foundation, the Turlock nonprofit that helps the poor and the homeless, after her owner was killed in April.

Genii Drew, who runs the Samaritans’ drop-in center, took in Tehya and brings her to work as a way to honor her previous owner, Jack Keener, and the other homeless people whose dogs can be their sole sources of unconditional love. Some of the homeless people who knew Keener help take care of Keyha.

“I knew how he loved her,” Drew said about Keener, who had been coming to the drop-in center since 2013. ”And when he was taken from her, that was the best I could do for him and for her. I felt I was prompted through God. That may sound silly. ... We were all really devastated by Jack’s murder. It had a profound effect on me and many of the homeless.”

Keener, 56, had been living in his 1993 Honda Accord with Tehya when he was killed April 15.

Turlock police have said Keener was run over by a car. Two men have been charged in his death. One man also is charged with trying to use a car to assault another homeless man. Sgt. Russ Holeman said Keener did not know the two men but had argued with them before his death.

The men, who are both 19 years old, remain in custody, have pleaded not guilty, and are set to have a pretrial hearing In October.

Drew and several homeless people who knew Keener said he was different from some of the other homeless people. They said while he was soft spoken and kept to himself, he was willing and did help others. One friend said Keener earned money through recycling.

They said he was honest and independent and avoided all of the drama that can come with being homeless: gossiping, rivalries and jealousies, fighting over boyfriends and girlfriends, and thieving and stealing from one another.

“He treated people with respect and kindness,” said Drew, whose job title is homeless support services provider.

He also kept himself clean and took care of his belongings. Drew said Keener’s Honda was spotless, and he showered Monday through Friday at the drop-in center and did his laundry a couple of times a week.

One 56-year-old homeless man said he had known Keener for about three years and the two became friends because they had similar stories. The man — who asked to be identified by his first name, Blaine — said he and Keener had been married, had had good jobs, raised families and were grandfathers.

Blaine said their lives fell apart after the deaths of their wives. Keener’s wife died in 2011, according to her obituary. “He was a good man,” said Blaine, who said he has been living and working on a ranch for the past month. He said he was at United Samaritans Foundation on Wednesday to visit friends.

Blaine choked up when asked about Keener’s death. And a homeless woman who said she had known Keener for about four years said no one should have died the way he did.

Keener’s obituary states he was born in French Camp, raised in Salida, and married his high school sweetheart in Turlock in 1981. The obituary said he had been a master tile setter. Keener’s two daughters declined to comment for this story for fear of jeopardizing the criminal case against the men charged in their father’s death.

Sgt. Holeman said Keener had frequent contact with Turlock police officers but it was for minor matters. Court records show he was charged three times in 2015 and 2016 with violating Turlock’s regulations against camping in public areas. He also pleaded no contest in 2012 to a misdemeanor DUI and in 2013 to a misdemeanor of driving while his license had been suspended or revoked.

Keener is among the eight homeless people who have died this year in Turlock, according to a count being kept by the United Samaritans Foundation and the We Care Program, which operates a homeless shelter for men. But the two agencies suspect the number could be higher.

The majority of the eight homeless men and women died from medical or health reasons. The youngest was a woman in her mid 30s, while the rest ranged from their mid 40s to mid 60s.

To put the deaths into perspective, United Samaritans Foundation serves 450 to 500 homeless people each year, a number that has remained the same for the past decade, according to Executive Director Bev Hatcher.

Tehya spends her mornings at United Samaritans Foundation playing with the dogs of some of the other homeless people who visit the drop-in center, where they can get pastries, juice and similar fare for breakfast, take a shower and do their laundry. Drew pays one homeless man to take Tehya to the park with his dog in the afternoons when she is busy with her other work.

Drew acknowledges Tehya can be intimidating and is not the dog for everyone. But the roughly 70-pound pit bull has a strong affection for Drew.

It’s easy to see the central role dogs play in many homeless people’s lives at the drop-in center. Along the wall by the front counter are pictures of the homeless with their dogs (including Keener with Tehya), along with the dogs of some of the United Samaritan Foundation employees.

Drew said this started about a couple of years ago when she put up pictures of three dogs wearing harnesses donated by a local kennel as a way of showing appreciation for the donation. But she said once homeless people saw the pictures they implored her to take pictures of them and their dogs.

“This just took off,” Drew said about the dog wall. “They just love those dogs so much, and they want to show people.”