Mother of shooting victim pleads for end to violence as New Haven police announce arrest

It is an emotional day for the family of a gun violence victim, as New Haven Police announce an arrest in a 2020 homicide case.

Tylee Bellamy was 24 when he was shot and killed. Now Jonathan Frater, of Harford, faces several charges in his death. He is currently incarcerated in Hartford on separate charges. Frater faces murder and robbery charges, among others. Police say robbery was the motive.

Walking into Thursday’s press conference at the New Haven Police Department, Bellamy’s mother says she felt like she was doing a funeral walk once again.  

“Coming here today is like walking in that church to say goodbye to my baby,” Krystal Woodhouse said. “The streets are killing our kids. We have to do better.”

After losing both of her children to gun violence, the New Haven mother is pleading for change.

“My worst nightmare is burying one of my sons,” Woodhouse said. “I had Tylee at 15. And a lot of people don't understand being a young mother, a black mother, trying to raise your voice in this world today is so hard.”

Woodhouse was with son Tylee Bellamy at her sister’s home in November of 2020. She recalls hearing gunshots just minutes after the 24-year-old stepped outside.

“Tylee has four kids he left behind. The one that pulled that trigger did not think how would it affect his family. Tylee’s dead. He don't feel that pain. I feel that pain every night,” Woodhouse said.

After Bellamy’s death, Woodhouse would know tragedy again soon. Two years later, her 22-year-old son Herman was shot and killed in Hamden.  

“To lose both of them, my only two children, it's the worst. It’s a nightmare,” she said.

Seeing the next step in justice for Tylee, she says it has been a long time coming.

“Now two and a half years later, we're here, and this is the day I'm waiting for to have to tell this guy what he took from me,” Woodhouse says.

Bellamy’s death was one of a handful of murders that prompted the New Haven Police Department to transform its four-person Homicide Unit into the Major Crimes Unit it is today, with 44 detectives working cases.

“This is the result, trying to help a family deal with the loss of a loved one,” Chief Karl Jacobson said.

With the arrest announcement, the family continues to grapple with immense loss.

"He was my oldest grandson. I talked to him everyday," Lorraine Bellamy, Tylee's grandmother, said. "Nowadays, we burying so many young kids, teenagers, babies."

Woodhouse pleads for the violence to stop, saying that needs to start with the people in her own backyard.

“Y’all has to start speaking up when your kid out here committing crimes,” Woodhouse said. “Start telling on them, because when they're in that ground, you want answers just like I want answers. This hurt, to have to bury two children to these streets!”

New Haven Police reiterate that public input is crucial, saying witness statements and tips play a huge role in solving homicide cases.