TX TX - Lesia Michelle Jackson, 12, found strangled, Conroe, 7 Sep 1979

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Lesia (pronounced LEE-sha) was abducted and murdered while walking home from an evening at her neighborhood lake over 40 years ago, yet her case remains unsolved and barely discussed.

Her case went cold in less than 6 months after police hyper-focused on a suspect, a local Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD, who was tipped in by an acquaintance. LE decided to press charges against this man based solely on a quickly-retracted confession despite zero physical or forensic evidence linking him to the crime. When a judge ruled that the man's retracted confession would not be admissible in court, the case against him fell apart completely and charges were dropped. This was in February of 1980, just five months after Lesia's murder, and it remains the last major development in this case.

So who is responsible for this horrendous act? Could the man Lesia's brothers saw driving erratically - nearly running them off the road - on their walk home have anything to do with it? This case has been reopened by the Montgomery County Cold Case Unit. Hopefully answers and justice for Lesia will come soon.

Sources:
13 UNSOLVED: For the first time, details released in unsolved 1979 murder of 12-year-old girl
Lesia Michelle Jackson: The Unsolved Murder Of A 12-Year-Old Girl, Whose Body Was Found Six Days After She Went Missing
https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-...&loader=tips#3b06062f24bf91dcacee6cf32bf5052a

 

[faithx]

From the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office on Facebook:

MCTXSheriff Solves 43 Year Old Homicide

On September 7, 1979, 12-year-old Lesia Michell Jackson disappeared from her neighborhood off of FM 1485 after spending a day at her neighborhood pool. Her family contacted law enforcement and an extensive search was conducted to locate her. The next day her glasses were found at an area intersection, and sadly, on September 13, 1979, an oilfield worker found her body in a heavily wooded area along a pipeline near Exxon Road. An autopsy revealed Lesia had been sexually assaulted and murdered. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Detectives began an extensive investigation into her death that lasted for years, and while all leads were explored, the case eventually became cold.

In May 2005, the newly created MCSO Cold Case Homicide Squad took over the investigation, and in October 2021 a new forensic technology called “M-Vac” was used to process evidence suspected to be on Leisa’s clothing. DNA samples were retrieved from the clothing, and in April, 2022 Texas DPS Forensic Scientists were able to identify an unknown male DNA profile. This unknown DNA profile was loaded into the FBI-managed Combined DNA Index System, called “CODIS”. A CODIS match was found belonging to a local Conroe male named Gerald Dewight Casey. A search for Casey revealed he was deceased, executed by lethal injection on April 18, 2002 for a Capital Murder committed in Montgomery County in 1989. Additionally, on July 8, 2022, a blood sample from Casey obtained in 1989 was an exact DNA match for the evidence found by M-Vac and confirmed Casey as Lesia’s murderer.

This complex and detailed investigation spanning 43 years is the oldest Cold Case Homicide investigated and solved by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. The tenacity and diligence in solving this case by a dedicated team is a reminder to our public and to those who commit crimes in our communities that we will never cease our efforts to solve the hardest of cases and bring closure to traumatized families. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will continue to explore future advances in technology that can assist us in solving other cases currently under investigation.

 

[dotr]

July 11 2022

 

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What a shock. I am so relieved that Lesia’s case has been solved! MCSO’s cold case unit has made fantastic progress in quite a few cold cases the past couple of years.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

CONROE, Texas — A new technology for finding DNA has helped detectives identify an executed death row inmate as the killer of a 12-year-old girl slain in Texas in 1979.

Lesia Michell Jackson vanished Sept. 7, 1979, after spending the day at the pool in her Conroe neighborhood. Despite extensive efforts, Montgomery County authorities were unable to find her killer.

Last fall, cold case investigators used a new forensic technology called M-Vac to examine Lesia’s clothing for any DNA evidence left behind by her killer. The M-Vac is a wet-vacuum-based collection method that, according to a study in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, can find DNA on surfaces that might not yield genetic material through other collection methods.

New DNA technology links executed killer to 1979 murder of 12-year-old Texas girl

New DNA technology has linked the cold case murder of Lesia Michell Jackson, 12, of Conroe, to convicted killer Gerald Dwight Casey. Casey was executed in 2002 for the 1989 robbery and murder of Sonya Lynn Howell, 29, near New Caney.

www.wftv.com