Noura Jackson: Matricide?

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48 Hours Mystery ran the story of Jennifer Jackson, who was murdered in her home as she slept in 2005. The show was titled “My Mother’s Murder“. Her only child, Noura Jackson, was eventually tried and convicted of her murder.

The case takes many twists and turns, and definitely makes people question what the truth is. Noura is a baby-faced teenager at the time of the murder, whose DNA was not found at the scene, even though she lived with her mother. Some say it was sloppy police work. There was hair found in Jennifer’s hands that could be a match to Jennifer, but excluded Noura in preliminary tests. No conclusive tests were ran. It surely must point to someone involved in the murder. I am surprised it hasn’t been tested and more surprised that Noura hasn’t insisted it be tested and run into any DNA database available, as it should be.

Read moreYet when we watch Noura and listen to what she has to say, she is does one thing that concerns me the most. She says everyone else is lying, but her. What are the odds? It doesn’t bode well for Noura.

If we listen to Noura’s story of events, she wants us to believe in one-in-a-million odds, not just once, but over and over and over again. It is precisely this, to me, that gives away Noura’s secrets. I can see unusual odds once, twice, maybe even three times, but after that, it becomes ridiculous.

When I watched 48 Hours, these are some of things that I found noteworthy about Noura:

  1. In the 911 call, the operator asks her, did you see what happened, and Noura says, “No, no. I just got home.” Her voice sounds whiny to me here. There doesn’t seem to be any fear, terror or urgency, whatsoever, which is a red flag to me. Feelings of terror, urgency or fear don’t turn on and off like a light switch.
  2. The 911 operator asks Noura, “Is she breathing?” Noura says, “No, no. She’s not breathing, she’s not breathing, she’s not breathing.” Noura sounds like she is whining to me. Her voice just trails off into a soft pitch. It’s notable.
  3. More than that, if she knew her mom wasn’t breathing, how did she check? Did she check for her mom’s pulse? If so, did she have blood on her? Was any blood ever found on Noura? If she touched her mom in anyway, we would expect to find it. If she spent any time in the room with her mother, if the blood was everywhere, we would have expected to see it on Noura, or on her shoes, or in footprints she left behind. Was there any of this?
  4. When Noura says, “I didn’t do this, I loved my mom”, she shakes her head no. She does this head shake side-to-side (like she is saying no) frequently. I personally can’t put much weight into this as a subconscious leak because she does this frequently when she talks.
  5. What are the odds that person who broke in–got into a locked garage first? Noura told a neighbor that someone broke in. That makes me curious, how did Noura enter the house when she found her mom? Through the front door or the garage? If she didn’t go into the garage, how did she know someone broke in?
  6. Noura says, “Their painting me, like, gosh, I don’t know….a monster, a wild-child, a raving drug addict.” Why doesn’t she say “murderer”, if that’s what she feels they are calling her? Why can’t she say it? Is this a form of distancing? If you were being wrongly accused of murder, wouldn’t you say it? Wouldn’t you also say, “They’ve got the wrong person!”, “We need to find the real killer!” Why isn’t Noura? It’s notable.
  7. Why did Noura tell several different stories about how she got the cut on her hand? She told one friend said she cut it on a beer bottle, she told another that she got it while trying to get her cat out of the garage, and another friend that it was a burn from cooking mac and cheese. Noura, of course, when questioned on 48 Hours says she told police what really happened. She essentially denies that these people are being honest. What are the odds that all these people would lie?
  8. Why did Noura change into long-sleeves when she was seen at the Walgreens wearing a tank top and skirt just an hour before? Was that outfit at Walgreens different than what she was wearing with her friends that evening at the party she went to? If so, why did she change two or three times in one evening? I wonder if the police tried to find the outfit her friends said she had on at the party that night or did that go missing?
  9. Why would Noura forget to tell the police she stopped at Walgreens? What are the odds, if she was totally innocent?
  10. Why did she go to a Walgreens at 4:00 a.m., and ask for a paper towel to wipe a cut, if she told the police and other people the cut occurred the night before? What are the odds?
  11. Why did Noura have no phone calls between 1:00 – 3:00 when Jennifer is thought to be murdered and make calls from the house when she said she was not there? What are the odds a friend of Noura would testify that she called after 1:00 a.m. from her home phone?
  12. How come Noura was quick to respond that no one was shot. How did she know that her mother wasn’t shot? Wouldn’t most people say they have no clue? What are the odds?
  13. Why did Noura tell her neighbor that “My mom, my mom…someone’s breaking into my house?” Why present tense, if she had already supposedly been in the house and knew her mom was “not breathing”?
  14. Why would Noura, if she believed an intruder was in the house, go inside before the neighbor who was holding the gun? What are the odds? This shows absolutely no fear, which we would expect if someone else killed her mother and she didn’t know who it was. What are the odds someone who saw and knew what Noura did would have no fear?
  15. Noura says, “Well I know I don’t really know what happened. I wasn’t there.” Why would she say the world “really“? Is she hedging on us? Is the word “really” a subconscious slip? If she is definitive in her statement, I wouldn’t expect to see a hedge word such as “really”.
  16. What are the odds that no one from Noura’s own family supported her in the trial, if she was innocent?
  17. Noura’s uncle testified that Noura seemed unusually interested in what she might inherit if Jennifer died. What are the odds that this would happen within a week of Jennifer’s death?
  18. Noura says her uncle is a liar. Noura says, “That’s really hard to do, because, um…I love him.” It appears to me she is thinking on her feet here. What are the odds that her own uncle would lie about this? She points the finger at everyone else, but herself.
  19. Noura’s friend testified that she heard Noura say to her mom the night she was murdered, “My mom’s a bitch and she needs to go to hell.” Her friends didn’t support her either. What are the odds?
  20. Noura says she didn’t get home until 5:00 a.m., but phone records show otherwise. What are the odds that a 17 year old girl would get home at 5:00 a.m. on the night her mom was murdered? How many 17 year old girls stay out until 5:00 a.m.?

Noura supporters argue that whoever killed her father may have killed her mother. I don’t think the two killings shared any similarities, did they? Second, why would a stranger who wanted revenge on Noura’s dad do an “overkill” stabbing on Jennifer? I could see shooting her, but stabbing her dozens of times? Why? A stranger who just wanted money from Jennifer wouldn’t put a basket over Jennifer’s head. That doesn’t make sense. Furthermore, some speculated that since Jennifer inherited her ex-husband’s estate that perhaps his killers wanted money from Jennifer. If this is true, they would have taken things, but from what we know nothing was taken. They would have had nothing to gain by killing Jennifer, so I think those scenarios are unlikely.

I think this case comes down to the basics. When things seems to be unlikely to be true, they probably are. Noura wants us to believe in unrealistic odds here, and offers no good explanation for any of it. She just wants us to believe she is honest and the rest of the world is lying. I’m not buying it. This is classic behavior of a sociopath, though I am not saying Noura is one (I’m not a medical expert). If you notice though, Noura has very little emotions and never says anything loving about her mother whatsoever. She actually complains that her mother embarrassed her, when she talks about the “bond” between them. It’s kind of ironic.

Do I believe Noura killed her mom? I do not know, but I think Noura knows a heck of a lot more than she is telling us. I also wonder if someone else could have been involved. I’d really like to see that hair tested. There are still plenty of questions in this case that need answers, to say the least.


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Husband’s Plea: Actions Caught on Video

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Last week, I shared with you the video plea of Munawar Toha, pleading for his wife, who disappeared in March. When I posted this case, the police had already arrested Toha, but I thought you would find it interesting nonetheless.

I, like everyone else, only saw the video after the arrest, so I don’t have any good insight of how I would have felt prior to knowing. I don’t think I saw enough in this video for me to say anything conclusive.

I do believe that Toha shows genuine grief, but people who do crazy things, do often have genuine emotions and do so episodes of grief, pain, shame, etc. That would not be surprising nor does it give us any answers as it could support the truth or a lie. I do see a hint of disgust when he says, “I have no clue where she is at the moment.” The words “at the moment” are odd, but not significant on their own either. He does seem to be able to turn off his emotions quite well, but because he does show genuine emotions albeit in small bursts,it isn’t enough to say anything conclusively. For me to say anything about this case, I would have needed to see more.

Here is an update:

Coralrose Fullwood: The Truth is Never Easy

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This week, Patrick Murphy, who was charged with the murder of Coralrose Fullwood, plead guilty. News reports are saying he is admitting to killing Coralrose. So does this mean the case is closed?

Back in 2007, I watched several videos of Dale Fullwood (which are no longer online unfortunately) and I stated that I did not trust him. Dale Fullwood’s daughter, Coralrose, was murdered and her body was found within hours a few blocks away at a construction site by a dog walker. Dale has always told people that he came home from the bar he worked at, saw Coralrose sleeping and went to bed. By the time they awoke the next morning, she was missing. Dale told reporters that he believed she was abducted from his home as he and his family of six slept.

Read moreWhen Murphy was arrested in August 2008 due to DNA, people were convinced I had this case wrong, yet thankfully the police kept an open-mind. It turns out they had or got more information than we did at the time.

An informant in this case has told police that Coralrose’s rape and death was videotaped. See this article from the Herald-Tribune:

The night she was abducted and killed, 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood was taken to a home along with other children to perform sex acts for a video, according to court records obtained by the Herald-Tribune.

Furthermore, they report:

According to the records released this week (June 2009), Coralrose was taken to the home of the man charged with murdering her, Patrick Dewayne Murphy, who lived two miles away from the Fullwood home.

Several adults were at the home, as well as Coralrose, three young girls and a boy, the records say, and one of the men offered the children $10 to have sex with each other while he filmed them.

And last:

He [Dale Fullwood] has told police he had no part in his daughter’s death, a crime that police say was not random.

Sadly, the truth is never easy, and that is why I am writing this post. It is not black and white. We want to believe that when we have a suspect, especially with DNA, that the case is cut and dry. It’s over. Person A is guilty and so then Person B must be honest.

Deception isn’t as simple as he did it or he didn’t. Deception can run deep and in many directions, and is often harder to solve than murder. It doesn’t leave behind DNA, but as we get closer to the truth, a picture begins to fuzz before us, and until that picture is clear, we must never give up in search of the truth.

We do not know how Coralrose was identified to be one of the children to participate in the child pornography “gathering” that night. Can we rule Dale out as having no knowledge considering all the facts in this case? To do so would mean you believe that Patrick Murphy abducted Coralrose between 2:00- 7:00 a.m. from a house full of six people without being discovered–for the purpose of bringing her to the pornography “gathering”. That seems remote to me. I don’t doubt at all that Murphy may be the one that ultimately killed Coralrose, but does that leave Dale free and clear, and most importantly honest?

Police have clearly identified that Patrick Murphy and Dale Fullwood had a connection. Witnesses reported seeing them look at pornography on Dale Fullwood’s computer where he worked. Dale Fullwood was also found to have child pornography on his computer which he was charged and sentenced to serve time.

The biggest problem one must live with when finding the truth is being willing to live in a state of ambiguity. Ambiguity make us uncomfortable. When people find things that make them uncomfortable, they want them to go away–they want easy answers. That’s not how we find the truth.

In cases with complexity, it may take years and even decades until the truth reveals itself. In some cases, we know the truth may never reveal itself. But through it all, if we want the truth, we must be willing to live with ambiguity and accept it, until the full picture of the truth reveals itself, otherwise we will just live with another deception.

Ferguson Makes DNA Plea

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Medical Still Life

Ryan Ferguson, who was convicted of killing a local Sports Editor Kent Heitholt in 2004, is requesting that he be allowed to pay for Touch DNA on the clothing of Heitholt. Here is an article about it. It’s quite interesting because the Ferguson family feels there is resistance from the prosecutor to allow this to happen. They felt they had no choice but to run a full page add in the local paper to get their request noticed.

Last year, the other man convicted in this killing, Charles Erickson, changed his story and gave a deposition saying now that he lied in court and that Ryan Ferguson is actually innocent.

I have always believed Ryan Ferguson was innocent. To read all of my thoughts on this case, click on the labels below, or use the search bar below my eye icon on the right.