Who is Bridgette Matthews? Alabama woman arrested for killing man who disappeared 9 years ago
MOBILE ALABAMA: Bridgette Matthews, 42, was indicted on murder charges by a grand jury for the killing of a man who sent a text for help nearly a decade ago and has never been found since.
Charles “Bubba” Jackson Jr, father of three boys, was reported missing by his girlfriend and the mother of his youngest son in May 2014.
His last known correspondence was a single-word text to his girlfriend which read “HELP.”
How was Charles Jackson Jr killed?
Prosecutors believe Matthews ran over Jackson and hid his body with the help of accomplices who still remain unidentified, reported Fox10 News.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood stated, “This is the first arrest after many years of investigation. Many witnesses have been talked to. A lot of evidence has been uncovered. This is the first in what we believe will be multiple arrests.”
“Some of those witnesses a period of years ago, were not willing to cooperate. We were able to secure their cooperation through our work with the Sheriff’s Office,” he added.
Back in May 2014, Matthews was dating the brother of Jackson’s girlfriend, said the victim’s sister Kisha Logan.
Logan told FOX10 News that he was living with her in west Mobile when he disappeared in the Semmes area. Revealing that someone had threatened her brother, she added that she suspected foul play when Jackson’s girlfriend reported him missing.
“When the officer showed up to my home to take the report, I told him, ‘This is not a missing person’s case. It’s a murder investigation. I knew immediately,’” Logan said.
Kisha Logan’s reaction to the indictment of Bridgette Matthews
Speaking to the New York Post, Logan said that the news of the indictment brought on fresh feelings for her and her nephews after so many years.
“We cried. We laughed. I mean it was literally just a whirlwind of different emotions. We had never really given up hope."
Logan hopes that after nearly a decade, she will not have to wait much longer for answers.
“I just want everybody that was involved to have their day. I want to know detail for detail on what happened to my brother,” she said.
Did Bridgette Matthews have a criminal record?
Matthews has a long criminal record and has been in and out of Metro Jail a number of times over the past 15 years, according to FOX10 News. In 2016, she pleaded guilty to a charge of distribution of drugs and spent time in prison.
The District Attorney’s Office alleged that Matthews went to casinos in Mississippi multiple times, which was in violation of the terms of a prison diversion program a judge originally ordered on drug charges.
According to court records, a condition of that program was that Mathews not leave Alabama.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Michael Windom sentenced Matthews to 15 years in prison on the escape charge in 2019, with all three years suspended, and five years probation.
The judge determined that after serving prison time, Matthews began her probation period but failed to keep in contact with her probation officer.