Background: The home in Natchez, Miss., where Lana Brown Bradley was found dead on April 4. Insets (left to right): Zachary Lavel Jackson Jr. and Lana Brown Bradley. (All photos via Adams County Sheriff's Office).
Police in Mississippi encountered a gruesome scene at the home of a beloved retiree, and now the victim's son is charged with murder.
Zachary Lavel Jackson Jr., 29, was charged with first- and second-degree murder, mayhem, and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of his mother, 62-year-old Lana Brown Bradley, a retired teacher. According to the Adams County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a welfare check at Bradley's home in Natchez, Mississippi, on April 4 after a family member reported Bradley missing.
In an interview with local CBS affiliate WJTV, Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said deputies found evidence of "the most heinous crime that I've ever witnessed in my entire life."
Jackson was initially only identified as a member of Bradley's family when the sheriff's office informed the public about the grisly crime. He was later confirmed to be Bradley's youngest son. According to WJTV, Bradley lived with her two younger sons, including Jackson. Her middle son was working and out of the house on April 4. Her oldest son had been trying to contact his mother for two days but was not getting a response. He called police for a welfare check.
Patten told WJTV that when deputies arrived at Bradley's home, they were immediately met by the smell of chemicals, saying, "somebody had been cleaning up." He added that the floor was "extremely slippery. And the older son said that this is just unusual for the youngest son to be cleaning up the house like that." Bradley was nowhere to be found.
As investigators searched the house, one of them heard splashing coming from a bathroom. Inside the locked bathroom was Jackson, along with a toilet that was filled with a "black substance." Patten confirmed to WJTV that the substance was Bradley's flesh, and Jackson was allegedly trying to flush the pieces of flesh down the toilet.
He told the station, "He chopped her up in pieces. He dismembered her in a way that whoever came looking for her were going to have to do their due diligence, and they were going to have to go above and beyond to find her. And that's what we did."
Outside the home, family members and deputies canvassed a wooded area near the property until someone yelled, "It's a head! It's a head!" Patten told WJTV that some body parts were found in a suitcase.
Patten told WJTV that Bradley had started to fear for her safety with her youngest son in the house, and she was going to try to evict him. Jackson allegedly threatened his mother the day before she was found dead because of her plan to evict him.
According to Patten, family members told police that Jackson was mentally unstable. However, Patten explained that Jackson was "very calculating" while committing the alleged crime.
Jackson waived his right to a preliminary hearing in court on Tuesday and remains in custody at the Adams County Jail. His case now goes to the grand jury. His next court date was not publicly available.
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