Inset: Dr. Craig Jackson (KEZI). Background: Reina Jackson, during a court hearing for murdering her ex-husband Craig Jackson (KATU).
An Oregon woman is headed to prison for decades for the murder of her ex-husband because she was jealous that he was starting a life with another woman.
Reina Gabriela Jackson, 45, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the shooting death of Dr. Craig Jackson at his home in Coos County, the Oregon Department of Justice said. A jury convicted Jackson of second-degree murder after a three-week trial last month.
Prosecutors say Reina Jackson and two men barged into her ex-husband's home in North Bend on Aug. 2, 2021. Deputies with the Coos County Sheriff's Office later found him dead with gunshot wounds to the head and rectum. Craig Jackson's new wife told deputies they were sleeping when she heard intruders inside the home.
The new wife said her husband awoke and began fighting with two of the suspects. She hid under the bed and then heard a gunshot. When she felt it was safe to come out from under the bed, she found her husband on the ground in a hallway outside the bedroom. She called the police but had trouble communicating because of a language barrier. She contacted a friend who was able to relay information to the police.
Paramedics found Craig Jackson and pronounced him dead at the scene.
Cops later reviewed surveillance footage that showed three masked people — two men and one woman — in the vicinity of the home. Investigators went to the home of the victim's ex-wife, Reina Jackson. When they arrived, they noticed a fire in the fireplace that made the home so hot that all the windows were open, which made responding officers uncomfortable inside.
The defendant showed "little emotion" after hearing of her ex-husband's demise, prosecutors said. If the fire was meant to burn key pieces of evidence, she failed to dispose of one important item. In her vehicle, cops found a map outlining her ex-husband's home even though she denied ever being inside. They also discovered a $40,000 check from her husband. Friends told authorities he never would have given her that kind of money, and cops believed she forged his signature.
Reina Jackson met her husband in her native Guatemala while he was attending medical school. They married in 2008 and had a daughter in 2013. They moved to Oregon in 2014, but the marriage fell apart and she filed for divorce in 2016. A judge awarded full custody of the girl to the victim.
Reina Jackson allegedly broke a window at her ex-husband's home in 2018 after she saw he was with a lady friend. She also assaulted him.
Craig Jackson married a woman he met in China in 2020, and the spousal support he was paying his ex-wife ended in 2021. The defendant fled the country with her daughter and traveled to Guatemala shortly after the murder, but was arrested upon her return to the U.S. in 2023. She's been in jail ever since and her daughter has remained in Guatemala.
While behind bars, she made incriminating statements, telling a fellow inmate her lawyer showed her a video depicting "me and the two men that killed my husband." She also wrote letters to her daughter, trying to convince the girl to tell authorities that her father gave her the $40,000 check meant for her mother.
Craig Jackson served in the Navy before becoming a doctor. He worked at a local health clinic.
"Dr. Craig Jackson served his country, built a career dedicated to caring for people, and was building a new life for himself and his daughter," Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement. "What happened to him was brutal and calculated. His family deserved justice, and the sentence reflects the gravity of what was done."
Authorities have never identified the two other suspects.