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"Revenge” Drives Woman To Mastermind Murder of Supposed Fiancé Who Was Engaged To Someone Else
A body found dumped outside a church in Buckhead, Georgia, wrapped in a comforter and covered in duct tape, was later IDed as Atlanta bus driver Bobby Jackson. But who put him there?
Buckhead, Georgia is an upscale area of Atlanta known for mansions, manicured lawns and a sense of security. But on April 12, 2002, the community was rocked when a dead man was dumped outside a local church.
The shocking discovery was made at around 10:30 p.m. by a couple walking their dog. They immediately called 911 and officials raced to the scene, where they found the victim wrapped in a comforter and covered in duct tape.
“We did not have any ID on this person. What we had was a body on the ground,” former Atlanta Police Department homicide detective Bob Creasy said in the “Dead End” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
Canvassing the crime scene
Investigators canvassed the area. At around midnight, they spoke to a preacher near the crime scene who said that a 12-year-old boy had gone missing from a sleepover at the house of worship.
Officials were concerned that the boy’s disappearance could be tied to the murder. After an Amber Alert and APB (all-points bulletin) were issued, police learned that the missing boy had been picked up by his mom and dad.
“It was just a big misunderstanding that the parents didn't tell anyone,” said JD Stephens, a former Atlanta Police Department homicide detective.
Bobby Jackson identified as victim
From exposed skin, investigators knew that the victim was a Black male. The medical examiner removed the duct tape with care to preserve any prints or forensic evidence.
Investigators saw that the victim had been bound with strips of white fabric. The time of death was determined to be between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
“There were a number of beating injuries to the face,” said Dan Hiatt, an assistant district attorney for the Griffin Judicial Circuit, Georgia. “The cause of death... was strangulation.”
Using fingerprints, detectives learned that the victim was Bobby Jackson, a 45-year-old Atlanta bus driver. He’d been fingerprinted for his Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) job.
Police searched Jackson’s home and found no signs of violence, but learned his car was missing and began a search for the vehicle.
Who was Bobby Jackson?
Detectives learned that Jackson was a divorced Atlanta native with two daughters — Tonisha and Shaundra. Part of a large family, he had five brothers and two sisters. “They all were very tight,” Stephens said. Through family members, investigators learned that a necklace and ring that Jackson always wore were not on him when he was found.
Jackson had a close relationship with his children. “My dad loved to laugh, and his heart was so big,” Tonisha Lewis said on The Real Murders of Atlanta. “He would give you the shirt off his back.”
He was a presence in his daughters’ lives. “He would come by and visit, just to see how I was doing,” said Shaundra Jackson.
Bobby Jackson’s girlfriend questioned
Detectives learned that Jackson was dating a county employee, Jessica Smith. While being interviewed at police headquarters, she said that she and Jackson had dated for about seven months and were engaged. She showed her engagement ring to the police.
Smith said that she’d last seen Jackson at around 6:45 p.m. on April 12, when he left her apartment to go home. That was the same day his body was found.
Investigators obtained Smith’s and Jackson’s phone records to corroborate her account.
Detectives interviewed Jackson’s workplace supervisor, Thomas Gaskin, a former MARTA superintendent. “I could not think of anybody who would do him harm,” Gaskin told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
Bobby Jackson’s car recovered
Four days after Jackson’s body was discovered, his car was found abandoned by a highway exit ramp 22 miles from the Buckhead crime scene.
The vehicle was processed for evidence at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab. No blood, fingerprints or any useful evidence was found.
Detectives were doubly disappointed when the duct tape that was wrapped around Jackson's body was analyzed. “There are no fingerprints, no DNA, no hair fibers, nothing that would link a killer to this body,” said Atlanta television journalist Mark Hayes.
Shirley Lyons, Bobby Jackson’s other girlfriend, emerges
Jackson was laid to rest by his loved ones 10 days after his body was found. Family members were shocked by one mourner, Shirley Lyons, who made a tearful scene.
Detectives learned that Lyons lived in Pike County, a rural suburb an hour south of Atlanta. When investigators phoned Lyons, she said the victim was “the love of my life,” said Stephens. “She informed me that she was also engaged to Bobby Jackson.”
Investigators considered that Jackson’s murder may have been a crime of passion — a result of “a jealous lover situation,” said Creasy.
At the police station, Lyons revealed that she had been dating Jackson for a long time, said Stephens, adding, “She showed me her hand with a ring on it.”
During the interview, Lyons claimed that on the night of Jackson’s homicide, he left her house in Zebulon at around 6:45 p.m. Her story echoed the one Smith had told authorities.
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Phone records reveal timeline
When Jackson’s phone records came in, investigators saw that Jackson was with Smith at the time she’d said. At that point, investigators got a warrant to search Lyons’ home in Zebulon for duct tape and other evidence.
Lyons was at work when detectives arrived at her house. Inside, they found apparent blood stains on the carpet and curtains with a pattern that matched the comforter that covered Jackson’s body.
“It was a eureka moment,” said Creasy. “That just tied everything together and made us know exactly where this crime occurred, and that Shirley Lyons was involved.”
When Lyons returned home, she told investigators, “I didn’t mean for them to kill him. I paid somebody to come down here to beat up Bobby,” Stephens said. “I stopped her right there, and I read her Miranda rights.”
At the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, Lyons gave a full statement, which was recorded. She claimed she paid Keith Lee Turner, a convicted drug seller also known by other names, including “New York,” $300 to ambush and beat up Jackson. She was adamant that she had nothing to do with the murder.
Turner was apprehended at his residence, where detectives found Jackson’s missing necklace and ring. In custody, Turner claimed that Lyons was “the mastermind behind this whole thing,” Stephens said, and that she hired him to kill Jackson and offered $2,000.
On the night of April 12, Turner said, Lyons had a gun and duct tape ready and told him to hogtie Jackson with ripped up bed sheets. Turner used the gun to beat Jackson in the face and to hold him at bay as they bound him, he said. “She gave me some work gloves,” Turner is heard saying in a recording.
Turner said, according to Stephens, that after Lyons told him to hogtie Jackson, "That when I tied him up... and I put a noose around his neck. That way, when he straightens his legs, he's gonna suffocate."
Turner and Lyons wrapped the victim in duct tape and dumped him in Jackson’s car. Turner dumped Jackson’s body in Buckhead, he said, purely by accident after getting lost. He tossed the gun, which was never recovered.
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Who killed Atlanta bus driver Bobby Jackson?
Lyons and Turner were charged with Jackson’s murder in May of 2002. “The motive of Shirley Lyons was that it was revenge, jealousy, hatred of Bobby Jackson for his rejection of her,” Hiatt said.
Lyons pleaded not guilty. A plea bargain was struck with Turner, who received life in prison for his testimony in court. Lyons was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
To find out more about what happened to Jackson, watch the “Dead End” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, which airs Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
