Alabama woman arrested for decade-old murder of a father who texted ‘HELP’ before disappearing
An Alabama woman was arrested Monday for the murder of a father who sent a text for help nearly a decade ago and was never seen or heard from again.
Bridgette Matthews, 42, was indicted on murder charges by a grand jury for the killing of Charles “Bubba” Jackson Jr., who disappeared from his home in Mobile in May 2014.
Jackson, a dad of three boys, was reported missing by his girlfriend and the mother of his youngest son. His last known correspondence was a single-word text reading “HELP” to his girlfriend.
Prosecutors believe Matthews ran over Jackson and hid his body — which has never been found — with the help of others who remain at large, Fox10 News reported.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood told the station that witnesses who had long been uncooperative finally spoke to investigators about what they knew about Jackson’s death and that new physical evidence was recovered.
“A lot of evidence has been uncovered,” he said. “This is the first in what we believe will be multiple arrests.”
Matthews — who has a long criminal record with several stints in Metro Jail, according to Fox10 — was dating the brother of Jackson’s girlfriend at the time, according to the victim’s sister Kisha Logan.
Logan said her family never gave up hope that her brother’s killers would be brought to justice but was still surprised to get the call that an arrest was made after nine years.
She said the news brought on fresh feelings for her and her nephews after so many years.
“We cried. We laughed. I mean it was literally just a whirlwind of different emotions,” Logan told The Post.
Jackson’s oldest son, who was 11 at the time of his dad’s disappearance and is now 21, was “ecstatic” that his dad may finally soon get justice, she added.
“We had never really given up hope,” Logan said.
After nearly a decade of waiting for answers, Logan said, she hopes she won’t have to wait much longer for the others she believes played a role in her brother’s death to be arrested.
“I just want everybody that was involved to have their day. I want to know detail for detail on what happened to my brother,” she said.
Logan was four years older than Jackson and said she was the one who gave him his nickname “Bubba” when he came home from the hospital with the chubbiest baby cheeks reminiscent of cheeks full of soft, chewy Hubba Bubba gum.
“He was a great person,” she said of her brother. “He was caring. He was funny — always joking … He just was a very, very easygoing kind of person. He was a big bear.”
Logan said she wants those responsible for her brother’s death to know they took away someone who was loved dearly and by many.
“And I do want everyone that was involved to know that they did not just take somebody that did not have a family and [wasn’t] loved because he had a lot of family and he was very much loved,” she said.
