The family of a young Birmingham woman who was brutally assaulted and murdered by several people is asking for people to stop spreading videos of the gruesome attack online.
Police announced on Thursday that seven people had been arrested in connection with charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 20-year-old Mahogany Jackson.
Jackson went missing on Sunday, Feb. 25, after sending her family members text messages that she was being held hostage at an apartment complex.
Birmingham police and her family rushed to Serenity Apartments that morning, but she was nowhere to be found. Police questioned a woman in one unit who Jackson knew. She told authorities Jackson left the apartment earlier but didn’t know where she went. That woman was among the seven people charged with murder.
Then, early Monday morning, someone found Jackson’s body in an illegal dumping site under a mattress. Authorities discovered she had been shot at least one time. Earlier reports show she was found on the roadside.
Now, four men and three women are in police custody, facing charges for her death.
Brandon Pope, 24, Francis Harris, 25, and Jeremiah McDowell, 18, were charged with capital murder during a first-degree kidnapping and capital murder during first-degree sodomy.
Giovannie Clapp, 23, and Blair Green, 25, face felony murder charges as well as first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy.
Teja Lewis, 26, is charged with felony capital murder during first-degree kidnapping. Lewis was the woman police questioned at the apartment complex who claimed she didn’t know Jackson’s whereabouts.
Si’Nya McCall, 23, is charged with felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree sodomy. Airana Robinson, 23, is charged with felony murder and kidnapping.
Lewis and Clapp also face a second-degree assault charge for reportedly pistol-whipping Jackson.
A number of disturbing videos showing Jackson being physically and sexually assaulted while she was being held against her will were posted online and even sent to her family members.
Jackson’s mother, Gail Maddox, posted a plea on Facebook asking for people to stop messaging her about those recordings.
“Please, I’m begging you all, don’t send us any videos, we are suffering enough,” Maddox wrote. “That’s my child. Please stop. I can’t take it.”
In a press conference, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said Jackson’s murder was more heinous than most he had seen during his time as a homicide investigator.
“The facts of this case are deplorable and sickening,” Thurmond said. “Saddest of all, they were made public by the suspects’ decision to videotape portions of this horrific act. It was absolutely disgusting.”
Investigators haven’t released a motive for the crime but believe they apprehended all the suspects involved in Jackson’s murder. They also believe all the suspects know each other. AL.com reports that Lewis and Jackson had an ongoing dispute over something previously taken from Lewis’s apartment.
Thurmond said police wouldn’t be releasing too many details about the murder for the family’s sake, but they know Jackson was sexually assaulted and taken to several different locations during her abduction.
“The actions displayed by these defendants were barbaric and have no place in society,’’ Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr told AL.com. “The senseless and inhumane treatment perpetrated on young Mahogany Jackson was very disturbing and violent.”
Family members hosted a vigil after the charges were announced at the apartment complex where the 20-year-old mother was held captive.
“Everybody that knew her knew she didn’t play, and they knew she was full of love behind all that toughness she had,’’ Jackson’s older sister, Jazmyne Maddox, told AL.com. “She had a big heart.”
