All told, family members and friends said, the Reardons spent more than $100,000 trying to help their son recover. Swift River was their last hope."Jeff's heart was broken that he had to put him in there," Cavanaugh said. "It hurt him terribly."
Shane was allowed few visitors. But he spoke to his parents often and even recorded a rap video for them, in which he's laughing and telling his parents how much he loves them and appreciates their support.
It made Jeff and Phebe laugh every time they saw it. It makes them cry every time they watch it today. And they watch it often.
By the time Shane graduated from Swift River, he was a role model to his peers. Everyone saw a change. He had a tattoo applied to his chest, with a heart, a cross and a crown of thorns and the word "Salvation" written across it.
"He was thoroughly convinced he was all better," Cavanaugh said. "But it's awfully hard to go back and mix with society."
The Reardons were nervous when Shane deemed himself ready to go on with his life, but they were encouraged by his decision to attend college.
Shane began studying recording arts at Full Sail, a film school in Winter Park, which also teaches music, art design and media production.
The only thing that truly worried Jeff was when Shane reconnected with a friend from his troubled youth. The boy also had problems with drugs and alcohol, and the two partied together as teenagers. Still, the friend approached Jeff directly and convinced him he was clean. Jeff agreed to let them share an apartment minutes from campus.
"He had all good intentions that he would never do anything like that again," Jeff's mother said of her grandson. "And then, he went to college. He must've gotten in with the wrong crowd."
Shane was arrested and released on bond for marijuana possession in North Palm Beach in August 2003. But on Feb. 21, 2004, the Reardons' worst fear came without warning.
Shane was found dead in his Winter Park apartment.
He was 20 years old.
