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The park, intended to honor the life of a little girl, had turned into an overgrown mess of weeds, looking much like the place where Shalonda Poole was found gagged, raped and killed in 1990.

On Saturday residents from the community surrounding Jones Elementary School gathered to re-establish the park named in Shalonda’s honor.

The cleanup was organized by the Warnersville Historical & Beautification Society.

“I was one of the original investigators on the crime,” said Stephen Williams, director of the Greensboro Police Department’s forensic services division, as he took a break from cutting logs with a chain saw while others nearby hacked brush with machetes.

“I’m here because the community needs to heal, and I need to heal, too,” Williams said.

Two decades ago, the wooded area behind Jones was a place where people drank and did drugs. It was also the place where Poole spent her final minutes and where her body was found on July 23, 1990.

She was 7 years old.

The killing remains unsolved.

In November 1990, volunteers from the Sierra Club, Guilford County Schools and the community cleared the underbrush to create a learning area for the nearby school.

Since then, the wooded area had been forgotten. Bridges over a stream decayed, and people threw trash and bottles into the brush.

On Saturday, workers pulled old bikes, car tires and torn bags from the water. Others yanked down dead vines draped from oak and pecan trees.

“I’m out here because I think Shalonda Poole Park represents lots of things that won’t make Nancy Grace,” said Shalane Wilson Griffin, referring to the CNN show host known for specials on missing children. “There are those who don’t have blonde hair and blue eyes that you don’t ever hear about.”

Griffin said she used to play in the creek near where Shalonda was found.

“I was Shalonda Poole,” she said about her childhood playing in those woods. “That could’ve been me.”

Meanwhile, Shalonda’s mother watched from a small rise as people worked on the park for her daughter.

“You just can’t imagine what this means for me,” said Marilyn Poole. It’s been more than 18 years since her daughter died, and she had been to the park only once.

Saturday was the second time.

The park, featuring benches and a photo of Shalonda as a memorial, will be rededicated April 24, with a speech from Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson.

The next day, a community celebration is planned on the school’s softball field.

“People can come here and talk, and get some solitude,” said Valeria Pritchett, who lives near the park on West Whittington Street.

She pointed out the people who worked together Saturday were white, black, rich and poor, and that unity threaded between them.

“This is great, not just for the neighborhood,” she said, “but for the city.”

Police want tips on Shalonda’s death. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com