Mahogany Jackson.Photo:Birmingham Police Department
Birmingham Police Department
Before killingMahogany Jackson, the people the young mother had previously considered friends and who had allegedlytortured her for hours, told her they were going to toss trash at an illegal dumpsite.
Then Francis Harris – one of eight people charged in connection to Mahogany’s alleged kidnapping, sexual assault, torture and murder – shot the 20-year-old woman in the back of the head, authorities say.
Investigators later recovered Mahogany’s body – under two mattresses – at a Birmingham, Ala., dumpsite.
In an interview with District Attorney Danny Carr, PEOPLE confirmed details of Wednesday’s preliminary hearing in which six of the eight alleged attackers appeared.
Mugshot of Francis Harris.Birmingham Police Department
“This is one of the most savage cases I’ve ever seen: Cruel and just inhumane acts depicted on a video,” Carr tells PEOPLE. “It’s just really something I thought I’d never see.”
Referring to a slew of videos collected in evidence depicting Mahogany’s torturous last hours, Carr says the footage was “something that you can’t just forget.”
“And when you see it,” he continues, “the sheer animalistic acts – in my opinion – are just unbearable.”
Mahogany Jackson with her daughter, Nydia, now 3.Gail Maddox Trotter
Gail Maddox Trotter
Inan interviewwith PEOPLE just days after her daughter’s murder, Gail Maddox Trotter said Mahogany had been working to distance herself from the very people who later allegedly killed her and that at the end of her life, she was becoming more actively involved in her 3-year-old daughter’s life.
“She was full of life, she loved people,” her mother said. “And sometimes she just loved the wrong people. That was her biggest problem — was just loving the wrong people.”
Mahogany Jackson.Gail Maddox Trotter
Mahogany had joined the group of her own accord on Feb. 24, before a confrontation between them soured, Carr confirms.
She had gone to Brandon Pope’s home that night to confront the 24-year-old over a gun she had previously stolen and believed to now be in his possession, Detective Mark Green testified, perAL.com’s report from inside the courtroom Wednesday.
Taking a gun from Jeremiah McDowell, 18, Mahogany aimed the gun at Pope and allegedly forced him to strip to prove that he did not have the gun, the outlet reports.
Mahogany Jackson was tortured for hours at Serenity Apartments in Birmingham last month.Google Maps
Google Maps
There, Mahogany was allegedly forced to give oral sex to one of the women, while another woman held her head and a third held a gun in one hand and a recording device in the other, per videos in evidence, according to the district attorney.
One person in the house allegedly told her to “hurry up because she had another one” awaiting oral sex, per AL.com.
A vigil was held Thursday outside the Birmingham, Ala. apartment where Mahogany was held hostage Feb. 25.Gail Maddox Trotter
At one point, Mahogany managed to sneak several messages to family members, asking for help and sending her location, her mother tells PEOPLE.
As the abuse continued, Mahogany’s terror escalated and she defecated on the floor, Carr tells PEOPLE.
“She ain’t going nowhere,” Harris, 25, said of Mahogany before killing her, Carr alleges. Later, as the group prepared to go to the dumpsite, the district attorney says Harris fatally shot Mahogany in the back of the head.
Brandon Pope, 24, Francis Harris, 25, and Jeremiah McDowell, 18.Birmingham Police Department
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Investigators recovered her body around 2:19 a.m. local time Feb. 26, according to police.
A grand jury will consider charges of capital murder during a kidnapping against Pope and McDowell, as well as Harris, who also remains accused of capital murder during a rape/ sodomy, a charge dismissed against both Pope and McDowell.
Teja Lewis, 26, Giovannie Clapp, 23, and Ariana Lashay Robinson, 23.Birmingham Police Department
Teja Lewis, 26, Giovannie Clapp, 23, and Ariana Lashay Robinson, 23, are each charged with felony murder. But Clapp’s initial second-degree assault charge was reduced to misdemeanor third-degree assault.
The remaining suspects — Blair Green, 25, and Si’Niya McCall, 23, who were both initially charged with felony murder during first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy — are slated for separate preliminary hearings March 18.
If convicted of capital murder charges, such cases in Alabama hold the possibility of the death penalty.
source: people.com
