Seven people have been arrested in the gruesome slaying of a Jasper, Ala., woman considered so gruesome that police have declined to release certain details out of respect for her family.
The body of Jaquisa Jackson of Mahogany was found around 2:19 a.m. Monday after someone called about a woman lying on the side of the road, according to a Birmingham police news release.
A 20-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound.
“The facts of this case are deplorable and sickening,” Police Chief Scott Thurmond said at a news conference Wednesday, noting that Mahogany was sexually assaulted during her abduction.
Hours before her death, Mahogany texted her mother for help, saying she had been kidnapped, Birmingham Police Sergeant LaQuitta Wade tells PEOPLE.
“Send cops apt 3 hostage don’t call,” Mahogany texted her mother on Sunday.
Mahogany Jaquise Jackson.
Birmingham Police Department
Police rushed to the apartment Sunday and questioned one of the now-arrested suspects, but Mahogany — who was taken to several locations during the abduction — had already been removed from the apartment, according to Wade.
At a news conference Wednesday, the chief declined to list the various places Mahogany was taken — or where she was ultimately shot, citing the ongoing court case.
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Calling the facts of her murder “absolutely disgusting,” Thurmond added, “This is without a doubt one of the most heinous acts I have seen in my career.”
Although police have not released a motive for the killing, the chief said Mahogany knew the seven suspects, who allegedly videotaped parts of her harrowing final hours.
He called the video clips “a key part of the investigation.”
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Brandon Pope (L) Francis Harris (C) and Jeremiah McDowell (R).
Birmingham Police Department
Wade confirmed the arrests and charges against four men and three women at a separate press conference late Wednesday.
Brandon Pope, 24, Francis Harris, 25, and Jeremiah McDowell, 18, have been charged with first-degree capital murder during sodomy and first-degree capital murder during kidnapping.
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Giovanni Clapp (L) and Blair Green (R).
Birmingham Police Department
Giovonnie Clapp, 23, Blair Green, 25, and Si’nya McCall, 23, were charged with felony murder during first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy. Clapp was additionally charged with second-degree assault causing injury.
Teja Lewis, 25, is charged with aggravated murder, as well as second-degree assault with a weapon.
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Teja Lewis (L) and Si’nya McCall (R).
Birmingham Police Department
All seven suspects are being held at Jefferson County Jail without bond, according to police.
Birmingham police began investigating Mahogany’s disappearance as a missing person case after her Sunday text message, the chief said, noting that her family’s quick response and the public’s participation in the search led to the quick arrest of seven suspects.
It was not immediately clear whether the seven suspects had been charged or had retained lawyers.
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Source: HIS Education