The mother of a missing teen found dead in a retention pond at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in the West Columbia area of Lexington County has expressed frustration about the company’s handling of the situation.

The body of Jerrold George Dejean, a 19-year-old Amazon employee from Gaston, was found Dec. 13 by workers on site to pick up garbage. He was reported missing Nov. 30.

“We’re saddened by this terrible tragedy, and our deepest sympathies are with his family and loved ones," Amazon spokesperson Branden Baribeau said in a statement provided to the Chronicle. "We‘re working to support them and our employees at CAE1 during this difficult time. We’re also cooperating with law enforcement to support their investigation.”

The Lexington County Coroner’s Office reported that an autopsy was set to be performed Dec. 15 at 11:30 a.m. in Charleston. Results of that autopsy haven’t yet been released.

Amanda Faver, Dejean’s mother, said she was told her son ran off from the fulfillment center at about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 30. She detailed her frustrations with Amazon to the Chronicle.

She said that when she showed up at about 5:30 a.m. to pick up her son from his shift, she was told she would have to wait for a department representative that wasn’t there to be told what was going on. Later, she was told she’d have to call law enforcement. Before she could call, law enforcement showed up, and Amazon employees told her at that point that Dejean ran off and that he had been offered counseling. She said she was told employees attempted to chase after him but didn’t know where he went. 

Faver said the employees repeatedly referred to her son, who had worked there for about six months, as the “light-skinned boy with dreads.”

Feeling an urgency to check the pond to make sure her Dejean wasn’t there, she said she and one of Dejean’s brothers went to search around the water but were kicked off the property by a security guard, who said they couldn’t wander the site as it was private.

Faver added that as of Dec. 16, the only contact she had received from Amazon after the day Dejean went missing was a call to discuss his life insurance policy.

“No communication. Nobody reached out to me,” she said. “Nobody gave a s#!t. Nobody talked to me.”

Amazon provided the Chronicle a statement in response to her complaints.

“We’re deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy, and we‘ve reached out to the family to express our condolences and offer support,” Baribeau said in the statement. “We’ve partnered closely with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department from the onset of their investigation and provided them full access to the site and grounds to conduct their search.”

Faver emphasized that her son loved life and looked after his family.

“He loved his video games. He loved his brothers,” she said. “He was such a happy boy. He loved to dress in nice clothes, and he always liked to get his hair done.”

A GoFundMe online fundraiser was set up to help the family with expenses in the wake of Dejean’s death. As of Dec. 20, it had earned nearly $8,000 toward its $10,000 goal.