A Mississippi man was allegedly caught trying to flush his dismembered mother’s remains down a toilet.
Zachary Lavel Jackson, Jr. is now facing charges of murder, mayhem and tampering with physical evidence in the death of retired educator Lana Brown Bradley, who was described by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office as “a respected and beloved member” of the community.
“This is by far the most heinous crime that I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life,” Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten told WJTV. “This was one of those cases that you will never ever forget in your life. This is a type of case that follows you home.”
Deputies Discovered Zachary Lavel Jackson, Jr. Inside a BathroomThe investigation began April 4 when the sheriff’s office was called to a home in Natchez to perform a welfare check on Bradley, according to the statement from the sheriff’s office.
When deputies arrived, they stumbled on a grisly scene.
“As soon as they walked in the house, they could just see where somebody had been cleaning up, and they could smell chemicals all throughout the house,” Patten recounted to WJTV. “Floor was extremely slippery.”
Jackson, described as Bradley’s youngest son, was found in a locked downstairs bathroom.
“When he opened that bathroom, deputies could see a black substance in the toilet that wasn’t described as anything that would come, you know, from your body in that way,” Patten explained. “They were disturbed at what they were seeing.”
Lana Brown Bradley’s Remains Discovered in Suitcase, ToiletConcerned, Patten ordered a search of the family’s wooded two-acre property. It was then a member of Bradley’s family allegedly stumbled upon a portion of the remains.
“The deputies heard a scream. They heard somebody, someone yelling, ‘It’s a head! It’s a head!’” Patten told the news outlet. “And of course, everything changed at that point. It was like they were frozen in time because nobody could believe what they were hearing.”
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Some of the remains were discovered inside a suitcase, while parts of her flesh were found inside the toilet after a plumber was called to remove it, Patten said.
“He chopped her up in pieces,” he explained to WJTV. “He dismembered her in a way where he knew 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.”
According to Patten, Bradley was looking into having her son evicted from the home. The day before her remains were discovered, she had gone to court to have him removed from the property, prompting Jackson to allegedly threaten her.
The sheriff’s office commended deputies and the service professionals called that day for “stepping outside of their normal scope of duties to assist when called upon.”
“From patrol deputies to investigators and our Special Operations Group, every individual played a critical role in this case,” Patten said in the statement from the sheriff’s office. “They recognized early on that this was more than a welfare check, preserved the integrity of the scene, gathered key witness statements, detained the suspect, and worked tirelessly until sufficient evidence was developed to bring charges.”
Oxygen.com reached out to the sheriff’s office, but did not receive an immediate response.
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Jackson—who is currently being held in the Adams County Jail—waived his right to a preliminary hearing in court on April 28, according to The Natchez Democrat. The case will now be sent to a grand jury.
Oxygen.com reached out to Jackson’s attorney Paul Sullivan, but did not receive an immediate reply.
