Botham Jean "knew what he wanted," his mother said, and he didn't stop until reached his goals: From getting baptized as a child to attending Harding University, a Christian college far away from his home island of St. Lucia.
Those were just a couple of the stories Allison Jean shared at a vigil for her son on Saturday, as the investigation into his death continued.
Authorities have said that off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyer shot Botham Jean at his apartment, mistaking the South Side Flats unit for her own on Thursday night. As of Sunday, no charges have been filed in the case, and police said the Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.
While few details have been released about Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, we've continued to learn more about Jean, a 26-year-old who was working as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.
Here are five stories Jean's mother that tell us more about her son:
'Botham knew what he wanted'
Jean was only eight when he wanted to be baptized.
"His Dad said, 'No, you're too young,'" Allie Jean said. "'Do you know exactly what you're doing?'"
So Botham waited another year, until he was nine, and he asked his father again. And again, his father questioned whether his son truly understood the meaning of a baptism. Jean kept waiting.
About a year later, his mother said, he came back to his father "with tears in his eyes."
"He said, 'Dad, I want to be baptized. I want to be a Christian,'" his mother said. "No one forced him. Botham knew what he wanted."
He was baptized and became active in the church.
"Botham never sat still," his mother said. "He always found work to do."
'He was a perfectionist'
Jean was a perfectionist, but he took that attention to detail to the next level: He didn't merely ask his parents for permission when he had a request – he wrote up a proposal.
"Mom, I have a proposal, and it's all documented," he would tell his mother, she said.
Staying active in the church, Jean came to his parents when he was about 13 or 14 with a proposal to evangelize St. Lucia. His proposal included a map and with specific communities he wanted to impact first, his mother said.
"He wanted to go from community to community, and he had that plan," his mother said. "Unfortunately, some of the members of my congregation knocked down the plan. They found that Botham was too enthusiastic."
More than just a song leader
Jean "did not want to be known as just a song leader," his mother said.
When he wasn't satisfied with his congregation's singing skills, he got permission to teach the church.
"He taught us how to read music," his mother said. "He sectioned the pews. He had sopranos, altos, bass and tenor. And he told each of us, each section, how they had to sing."
"He would beat himself down if we didn't get it right. So when we got home, I would tell him, 'Botham, I never learned music before...how do you expect me to just come in on a Sunday night and learn to read notes? But Botham wanted the singing to be perfect."
'I must go to Harding'
Jean heard about Harding University at a Caribbean lectureship. Immediately, he knew Harding was where he wanted to go to college. The problem, his mother said, was the cost – Harding is a private Christian college far from St. Lucia – and the University of the West Indies was a closer option in nearby Jamaica.
But when the time came to apply to the West Indies college, Jean conveniently didn't, applying only to Harding. His mother found out about her son's plan after calling the University of West Indies.
So Jean came to his mother with one of his proposals.
"Let me show you why I must go to Harding," he told his mother, explaining how it would be good to be around other Christians in college.
When Jean and his mother visited Harding, Botham walked around the campus "as if he had already started," his mother said.
"He had this air about him," his mother said. "Botham came there and he was already infused into the campus. He was not even admitted yet."
'Your boy is a blessing'
Though Jean went to college hundreds of miles away in Arkansas, he stayed loyal to his home country. Each year, he brought a team of Harding students back home to volunteer at orphanages and a school for at-risk boys and to help the sick.
One woman he visited reached out to Jean's mother to thank her.
"Your boy is blessed," Jean's mother said the woman told her. "Your boy is a blessing. I thank you for bringing this boy into the world."
Jean's mother remembered the small moments they had together, too, like when Jean surprised her by coming home from Arkansas one Mother's Day. Jean called his mother "GG" after Governor General, the head of the government in St. Lucia.
On Mother's Day one year, Jean's mother had laid for a nap after church when she heard, "GG!"
"I'm saying, 'That's Botham's voice, but maybe I'm dreaming,'" she said. But it was actually her son.
"That was such a gift," she said.
