MIAMI, Fla. – The staff at the Upper Keys Humane Society is mourning the loss of their 14-year-old volunteer.
The memory of Pascal Weisberger, someone they say was like family, will live on within the facility’s walls. They will rename the lobby after him, paint a mural and install a plaque, plus set up an endowment fund in Pascal’s name that will help to pay for free spay and neuter services for animals.
"He was a very sweet kid and he’s going to be missed. Very missed," said Upper Keys Humane Society Manager Karla Perrine. "He just wanted to give. He was a giver."
“Just the purest, kindest, soul you could ever imagine,” said Upper Keys Humane Society President Angela Boehm. “When he first started he was nervous and intimidated. He read books to them, it was really sweet.”
Weisberger was murdered early Thursday morning, allegedly at the hands of his 17-year-old brother.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said Daniel Weisberger stabbed Pascal to death sometime before 6 a.m. inside the Islamorada condo where they lived, then attacked their father, Ariel Poholek, and held him hostage for two hours while the man was bleeding from injuries to his neck.
The workers at the humane society were left stunned and devastated by the news.
"I screamed. I broke down," said Perrine. "And especially my mother, because my mother and him used to work together with the cats."
After a day long search for Daniel Weisberger, he was found; the teen jumped in front of pickup truck and was seriously injured. Police believe it was a deliberate act to harm himself. He’s was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where he remains.
He father is receiving treatment at Jackson South, but is expected to make a full recovery.
“I lost a daughter, so I know how he feels. And he’s losing two,” Perrine said. “But he has to be strong. To be there for the other one, because he needs help. Mental illness is not a joke.”