On June 15, unease spread through a Memphis, Tennessee community as a City Watch Endangered Child Alert was activated. This was in response to a desperate plea by a mom who couldn’t find her four-year-old daughter.
Upon waking at roughly 7:55 AM, Brittany Jackson, 25, claimed that her apartment’s main entry was open, and her daughter was nowhere to be found.
Sequoia Samuels, the missing child, was detailed as being around three feet tall, having a weight of close to 30 pounds, and possessing a feeding tube affixed to her stomach on the left side. Police investigators started their inquiries promptly, hoping to solve the perplexing case.
However, the subsequent day brought alarming news. The police located a child’s remains in a dumpster near the apartment that Jackson shared with her boyfriend. Early indications tied these remains to the missing girl.
Further examinations of the events suggested that Sequoia might have lost her life weeks before the day she was reported missing.
Jackson, when pressed for details, admitted to giving an inaccurate account of events. She shared that her boyfriend, Jaylon Hobson, 21, had subjected Sequoia to numerous acts of violence over weeks, culminating in a final, lethal attack. Post this assault, despite Hobson’s attempts to revive the child, Sequoia did not recover. Notably, Jackson made no effort to aid her daughter during this time.
Subsequent to the child’s passing, her body was reportedly wrapped in garbage bags and kept within the home for an extended duration. The remains were then disposed of in a trash bin and moved to the east side of the apartment block.
A concerning detail emerged, revealing that three other children, aged four to six, were also living in the apartment while Sequoia’s body was allegedly kept inside. This information prompted serious questions about their safety and mental health.
Upon questioning, Hobson rejected any involvement in the events leading up to Sequoia’s death, asserting his last interaction with her was on June 11, 2023. This account was contested by the police due to the advanced state of decomposition of the discovered remains.
Recently, a grand jury has indicted both Jackson and Hobson. The charges against them include two counts of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and other counts relating to evidence tampering, abuse of a corpse, and false reporting.
As of now, both are detained at the Shelby County Detention Center, with bonds set at $500,000 for Jackson and $50,000 for Hobson.
