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Chris Jenkins
May 6, 2024
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21-year-old college student Chris Jenkins mysteriously vanished on Halloween Night 2002 after spending the night out with friends. Four months
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On Sunday, June 5, 2005, around 5:00 a.m., 18-year old Noura Jackson called 9-1-1 to report that her mother, Jennifer Jackson, had been murdered inside their Memphis, Tennessee home. Jennifer was discovered at the foot of her bed and had been stabbed over 50 times. A wicker basket had been placed over Jennifer’s head, suggesting to the police that Jennifer knew her killer.
Jennifer Jackson had been murdered 15 months after Noura’s father had also been shot to death inside the convenience store he owned.
Police quickly identified their first suspect in Jennifer’s murder. His name is Mark Irving, a guy Jennifer had been dating at the time of her death. Phone records showed Mark called Jennifer on the night of the murder. But Mark had an alibi. He was over 90 minutes away asleep inside his house.
Crime scene technicians recovered an unknown DNA sample on Jennifer’s bedsheet that didn’t match Jennifer or her daughter Noura. This DNA sample would become a big deal a little later on.
A second suspect quickly emerged: Jennifer’s 18-year old daughter Noura. When police arrived at the Jackson house after the murder, Noura had a cut on her left hand. When asked how she got the cut on her hand, Noura told police she fell on a beer bottle the night before Jennifer’s murder.
But it wasn’t just the cut that made Noura look suspicious. Jennifer’s neighbors told police that Noura and Jennifer argued a lot. One of Noura’s friends, Kirby McDonald, told police that just hours before Jennifer’s murder, Noura was heard at a party saying “my mom’s a bitch, and needs to go to hell.”
Memphis police questioned Noura about here whereabouts the night of Jennifer’s murder. She told police she left the party around midnight, stopped at a gas station to buy cigarettes, picked up some food at a Taco Bell, and then just drove around.
But she left out one very important stop.
Police searched Noura’s car and found a Walgreens receipt from the night of Jennifer’s murder. Using the time stamp on the receipt, police reviewed surveillance footage from inside the Walgreens. On camera, Noura is seen purchasing medical care items on the night of Jennifer’s murder. She’s also seen taking paper towels from the store clerk because of the cut on her hand.
A search of Noura’s cell phone records reported zero activity on her cell phone between 1:00-3:00 a.m., the same time police believed Jennifer was murdered.
Even though there was no forensic evidence linking Noura to her mother’s murder, three months after the murder Noura Jackson was arrested and charged with the murder.
Noura sat in jail for 3 years waiting for her murder trial to begin. Her bail was set at $500,000 and she hired a defense attorney by the name of Valerie Corder. Valerie Corder believed that the one piece of evidence police had (the cut on her hand) actually proved her innocence.
Valerie Corder argued that Noura’s manicure was pristine on the night of the murder. The manicure didn’t have a single chip on them. Indicating that Noura couldn’t have stabbed her mom over 50 times and not chipped her nails.
Police never recovered the murder weapon and didn’t have any solid forensic evidence linking Noura to the murder. There was also the issue of the unknown DNA sample found on Jennifer’s bed sheet.
Noura’s father had been murdered 15 months before Jennifer’s murder. To this day, his case remains unsolved. The theory that Noura’s father’s murder is somehow linked to Jennifer’s murder was never brought up during the trial.
The prosecution called Noura’s friend, Andrew Hammack to the stand. He was the only state witness that could place Noura at her house at the time of the murder. Hammack testified that on the night of Jennifer’s murder, Noura called him and invited him to come over.
Noura didn’t take the stand and her defense attorney didn’t call any witnesses to the stand in her defense.
Despite the lack of forensic evidence, Noura Jackson was found guilty of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to over 20 years in prison.
Five days after Noura was sentenced to over 20 years in prison, the assistant prosecutor on the case filed a motion with the court to submit an omitted statement. A statement that was never turned over to the defense during trial.
The statement was a handwritten note from Andrew Hammack to the police shortly after Jennifer’s murder. In the note, Hammack admits to be “rollin’ on XTC” on the night of the murder. Which calls into question his entire testimony at trial.
Noura’s attorney filed an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court to have Noura’s conviction overturned based on this statement that wasn’t handed over to the defense.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Noura’s conviction on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct for how they handled Hammack’s written statement.
Noura’s case was sent back to be retried. It would take another 5 months for anything to happen in the case. By this point, she’s already served almost 9 years behind bars.
The new prosecutor assigned to Noura’s case offered a plea deal for her to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Noura, who believed she had credit for time served, agreed to enter an Alford plea. After entering the Alford plea (same as guilty plea), Noura served another year behind bars before being released.
Noura Jackson is now in her 30’s and lives with her girlfriend, a woman she met in prison. She’s a convicted murder. She’s convicted of murdering her own mother, Jennifer.
Since her Alford plea, the Innocence Project has supported Noura and believes in her innocence. The Innocence Project is working to get the unknown DNA sample found on Jennifer’s bed sheets tested.
Episode Sources:
The New York Times article by Emily Bazelon (April 1, 2017)
Murderpedia (Noura Jackson)
ABC News article (March 23, 2017)
48 Hours – My Mother’s Murder
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