Trial Date In Teen’s Murder Is Next Month
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Fredarrious
Wilson
COFFEEVILLE – The trials for four defendants accused in the March 5, 2023, killing of a West Memphis, Ark. teenager are scheduled August 26. Devin Smith, Bralin Jackson, Brandon Jackson and Layvonnia Jackson are each charged with first degree murder by deliberate design and conspiracy to commit murder after Fredarrious Wilson’s body was found riddled with bullets in a remote area in the Holly Springs National Forest between Coffeeville and Oakland.
Wilson was only months away from graduating from the Academies of West Memphis (AWS) when he his body was found on County Road 243. Wilson’s mother, Shirley Howell, reported her son missing on March 5, 2023, after 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 reported 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 the county road 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.
It would take another week of exhaustive investigative work before arrests were made by the Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department. All four suspects lived in the Coffeeville area. Layvonnia Jackson and Bralin Jackson are husband and wife.
The suspects were initially scheduled for trial in March, but their attorneys and Assistant District Attorney Marvell Gordon asked for continuances. Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure granted the continuances to allow attorneys more time to review voluminous discovery collected in the case.
Howell told the Herald last year that her son’s 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.
The trial is scheduled in the second-floor courtroom at the Coffeeville courthouse
Circuit Clerk Daryl Burney reported jury summons will be mailed approximately two weeks before the trial date.
