Four Charged In Teen’s Murder
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WATER VALLEY – Eighteen year-old senior Fredarrious Wilson was only months away from graduating from the Academies of West Memphis (AWS) when he was gunned down in the Holly Springs National Forest in Yalobusha County on March 5. His dream was to attend college and become an architect.
“He wanted to help people who could not afford it,” Shirley Howell, his mother told the Herald. Wilson wanted to design projects for others, she explained.
Howell said her son also loved cooking and playing games online with his brother and friends. Chicken alfredo was Howell’s favorite when Wilson cooked for her.
She reported him missing on Sunday, March 5 when he did not return home after going to the movies with a classmate.
Two days later, on March 7, the Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department received a call from the West Memphis Police Department after the missing teen’s phone’s last location was pinged in a remote area in Yalobusha County. The county dispatcher received the call around 6 p.m. and deputies searched the area until after midnight with no success.
The following morning, March 8, a U.S. Forest Service employee spotted Wilson’s body approximately 30 yards off of County Road 243 at 11 a.m. The Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department responded and were assisted by agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and the Water Valley Police Department as officers spent hours processing evidence. District Attorney Jay Hale and Assistant District Attorney Marvell Gordon were also at the scene.
It would take another week of exhaustive investigative work before arrests were made by the Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department. All four suspects were from the Coffeeville area – husband and wife, Alicia Jackson, 22, and Bralin Jackson, 23; Brandon Jackson, 23, and Devin Smith, 27. Hale reported all four suspects were charged with first degree murder. Bond was set in Yalobusha County Justice Court for one million dollars each.
Authorities have released few details about the murder and investigation since the arrests as Hale explained that work on the investigation continues. The district attorney was able to confirm that Wilson was shot multiple times. He also said the murder was likely not a random crime.
“It appears that the victim knew at least one of the suspects,” Hale added.
A media frenzy followed in the hours after the story was first reported by the Herald on social media on March 15. More details emerged as media outlets in Memphis and across the region reached out to family members and friends of the victim. Howell told WREG that her son worked at FedEx with Alicia Jackson.
“My baby trusted this young lady and she did this to him with no remorse,” Howell also told the Herald.
Howell is very thankful for the long hours put in by all of the law enforcement agencies working on the case. She is also very grateful for Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch and his department.
“Without the help of Sheriff Gooch and his team, I don’t know where my baby’s case would be,” she told the Herald. “Sheriff Gooch, you and your team and all of the other officials – I love y’all for bringing justice for Fredarrious Wilson, Class of 2023.”
In the days after the arrest, Howell said she most misses her son’s physical presence. The question that haunts her the most is “why?’
“I’m happy as hell that justice is/was done, I just want to know why?,” she told the Herald.