As a toddler, Jason Raikes would take apart and inspect his toys. He grew to be a man who helped people put together computers and relationships simply because he could.
Following his death, his friends and family remember him as someone who brought home stray pets and lost friends. He'd spent the last months of his life with his girlfriend, Christie Nguyen. Some said he was the happiest they'd ever seen him.
Raikes, 26, died Jan. 29 in a series of wrecks on Interstate 75. He is one of 11 victims.
Deanna Davison, a 24-year-old friend of Raikes, said he would drop anything to help a friend.
"He was always about getting people to feel better about themselves," said Davison, who is from Richmond, Va., "which is what friends should do."
She said he would spend countless hours on the phone helping her recover from boy trouble and took time from his night to fix her computer. She remembers a day when her keyboard was broken, she had work to do and the pouring rain wasn't helping her spirits.
"He just said, ‘Come on over, I'll fix it,'" she said.
Born in Chesterfield County, Va., Raikes attended Lloyd C. Bird High School. He discovered he had a knack for Japanese and a soft spot for animals and friends who needed a home, said his mom, Robin Raikes.
He adopted an abandoned golden retriever, Boddie, who became one of his closest companions.
After graduation, he worked with computers and lived in the apartment above his parents' barn. Every night, he would make dinner and they would shout out answers to "Wheel of Fortune."
She said he was a homebody, which made his decision to move to Gainesville to live with Christie all the more unexpected.
He was taking online classes at Western Governors University and hoped to get a job at UF's IT department, she said.
Even several states away, he would call home every Sunday.
"He would always say, ‘Mom, you can jump in the car and see me anytime,'" she said. "‘I'm not dead. I'm just 700 miles away.'"
His surviving family includes his mom; his dad, Rennie; and his sister, Caitlyn.
