An Alabama mother was kidnapped and tortured for hours before being gang-raped and murdered by a gang of eight, police say.
Mahogany Jackson, 20, was stripped, handcuffed, beaten, spit on and forced to perform sex acts at gunpoint in a Birmingham apartment before being shot in the back of the head on Sunday February 25.
Her torturers were four men and four women, according to prosecutors.
Around 8am on February 25 Jackson messaged family members to say she was being held hostage in apartment 3 at Serenity Apartments in southwest Birmingham.
The mother’s body was found in the early-morning hours the next day under a mattress at an illegal dump site in the 1700 block of Laurel Avenue that is known as ‘Dead Man’s Road.’
Videos of the torture and assaults were taken by several of the perpetrators before Jackson, who leaves behind a three-year-old daughter, was killed.
Mahogany Jackson, 20, was stripped, handcuffed, beaten, spit on and forced to perform sex acts at gunpoint in a Birmingham apartment before being shot in the back of the head
Videos of the torture and assaults were taken by several of the perpetrators before Jackson, was killed
Around 8am on February 25 Jackson messaged family members to say she was being held hostage in apartment 3 at Serenity Apartments in southwest Birmingham
Giovonnie Clapp, Blair Green, Teja Lewis, Sinya McCall and Airana Robinson have been charged with felony murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy. They were denied bond at a hearing on Monday.
Jeremiah McDowell, 18, Francis Harris, 25, and Brandon Pope, 24, have been charged with first-degree kidnapping and capital murder. They are also being held without bond.
Authorities said Monday that Harris is the suspect they believe fired the fatal shot after a projectile was recovered from Jackson’s head.
The young mother’s ordeal began when she arrived at Pope’s home on McMillon Avenue on Saturday night with several of the suspects, all of whom she knew, Birmingham homicide Det. Mark Green testified at Monday’s hearing.
The abduction began at the property and videos taken by the suspects show Lewis and McCall stomping and spitting on Jackson outside Pope’s home.
Jackson was on the ground, Green testified, while she was repeatedly assaulted by several of the suspects.
At one point, Lewis was straddling Jackson while punching her in the head.
The distressing footage reportedly shows Jackson telling her attackers they ‘had won’ and begging to be let go.
Jackson leaves behind a three-year-old daughter
Jackson’s body was found in the early-morning hours the next day under a mattress at an illegal dump site in the 1700 block of Laurel Avenue that is known as ‘Dead Man’s Road’
Blair Green (left) and Giovonnie Clapp (right) have been charged with felony murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy
Teja Lewis, (right) and Sinya McCall (left) were roommates in the Birmingham apartment where much of the torture took place. They have been charged with with felony murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy.
Francis Harris, 25, (left) and Brandon Pope, 24, (right) have been charged with first-degree kidnapping and capital murder. Harris is the suspect police believe fired the fatal shot.
Jeremiah McDowell, 18, been charged with first-degree kidnapping and capital murder. Police believe he was part of the group that took Jackson from the Serenity Apartments building to where she was fatally shot.
In another video Lewis was seen taking off Jackson’s shirt and dragging the nude Jackson by her hair toward a vehicle.
McCall was seen on the video yelling for someone to ‘pop the trunk,’ Green told the court.
Jackson was then moved to Serenity Apartments where Lewis and McCall were roommates.
Four more videos of Jackson’s torture were recorded there, the detective said.
Jackson was then shown being forced to perform oral sex on defendant Blair Green in McCall’s bedroom.
McCall, the detective said, threatened something would happen to Jackson if Blair Green did not ‘enjoy’ the oral sex.
At one point, McCall made Jackson pull down her pants, and told McDowell to sexually assault her. There was no testimony indicating another sexual assault took place.
Police believe all the suspects were present at Lewis’ apartment during the assaults at varying points in the night.
Jackson was then taken from Lewis’ apartment by Pope, Harris and McDowell, and was fatally shot after sending the help messages to her family.
Lewis and McCall initially denied any knowledge of the incident when questioned by police.
They changed their statements after being shown the videos, which were sent to police by a witness, Green testified.
‘This was a horrific attack perpetrated against Miss Jackson,’ Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrich said on Monday.
‘She was subjected for a period of time to – there’s really no other way to say it – torture which ultimately led to her death.’
Adding: ‘The nature of these offenses was horrific.’