Sherri Jackson’s Disappearance

Sherri Jackson was 27 years old when she was reported missing in November 2006. Jackson was previously an honor student, cheerleader, and homecoming queen. At the time of her disappearance, she worked at the Shipman Family Care, in Greensboro, as a family and health care coordinator. Her boyfriend at the time, DeCarlo Rayshaun Bennett, reportedly called her parents and asked them if they knew about her whereabouts when her parents and friends could not find her. Also, he allegedly told the police that Jackson was three months pregnant when she went missing.

In any case, the investigation that followed suit found something disturbing in the apartment in which she stayed. The police officers found her apartment in a disarray, and it was assumed that some kind of struggle had taken place there. They then used luminol to see if there was any presence of blood. Howard Neumann, Chief Assistant DA said, “The entire bathroom lit up from one end to the other, which indicates the presence of blood. It was as if someone had taken a rag, and tried to wipe it clean and said to themselves, okay this is clean and thought their job had been done.” The DNA test revealed that the blood found in the bathroom of her apartment was Sherri’s.

Though there were three main suspects, Jackson’s boyfriend, Bennett rose to the top of the list as he kept on presenting stories that did not really add up. Additionally, it was learned that almost one month prior to her disappearance, her parents had made a 911 call regarding a man who refused to leave her apartment. This was based on a call they themselves received from Sherri, regarding the same. Details of this incident revealed that this ‘man’ was Bennett. Additionally, the police officers who went to Sherri’s apartment then also found her to have some injuries. Thus, most of the evidence leaned against Bennett.

Sherri Jackson’s Body is Found
Despite the various leads the investigation made, Sherri Jackson’s body was found almost 19 months after she went missing, in June 2008. Bennett led the investigators to where he had buried the body. It was in the backyard of his mother’s home in Greensboro. A plea deal was made before he led the investigators to Jackson’s body. Thus, Bennett was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. During the trial, Jackson’s older sister Shanece Belvin said, “That shadow never goes away. It doesn’t disappear when I’m asleep. It doesn’t disappear when I’m awake. … This is a very heavy shadow.”

Sherri Jackson was laid to rest in Forest Hill Cemetery in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina. After her death, in 2008, with the support of Jackson’s mother, Portia Shipman, founded the Sherri Denese Jackson Foundation that aims to prevent and help those facing domestic violence.     ~Richy Maria Jacob, Writer