Homer Jackson

Homer Lee Jackson III (December 18, 1959 – July 18, 2023) was an American serial killer who killed at least three women and one teenager in Portland, Oregon from 1983 to 1993.

Homer Lee Jackson III was born on December 18, 1959, in Berkeley, California.

Little is known about his early life, but in the early 1970s, his family moved to Portland, Oregon, where Jackson would remain for the rest of his life.

Early on in childhood, he suffered from a variety of health issues, including congestive heart failure, as well as anterograde amnesia.

From 1978 to 1983, Jackson was repeatedly arrested for burglary, but each time got off with minor prison sentences.

By the early 1980s, he began to spend a lot of time in the company of pimps and prostitutes where, by his own admission, he developed an addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine.

In the mid-1980s, he suffered a gunshot wound during a fight, for which he had to undergo a surgery that removed one of his lungs.

After this incident, Jackson waned off his addiction, ceased his criminal activities and married twice.

For the next few years, he was worked in low-skilled labor and did odd jobs, after which he worked for Life Center, a charity that provided food and clothing to the homeless and needy, which had been organized by his grandmother.

Later on, however, under pressure from investigators, Jackson changed his testimony, forcibly admitting that he regularly used services from prostitutes in the early 1980s and describing how the incidents had occurred.

He continued to deny culpability, claiming that the reason his seminal fluid was discovered on the bodies was due to the fact he had had consensual sex with the women.

During the interrogations, the police went beyond standard procedures and began to subject him to moral pressure, without obtaining confessions from him.

The way they did this was to have two detectives convince him that if he admitted to the killings, his mental condition would stabilize, utilizing his deep religious beliefs to make him "atone for his sins".

During the first three hours of questioning, Jackson denied any involvement, but after he was promised a number of privileges and legal advice, he finally began to confess.

He identified one of the victims, Angela Anderson, and recounted some details regarding her murder, but later gave testimony which was considered questionable as to its veracity.

He claimed that he still had special feelings for the girl, but could not recall the circumstances of her murder and claimed that he had stabbed her in the chest, which was untrue.

When it came to the other murders, Jackson claimed he could not remember any details, although he freely admitted to being familiar with the area where the bodies were discovered.

These were the following: 23-year-old Essie Carrie Jackson (no relation), found on the west edge of Overlook Park in North Portland on March 23, 1983; 19-year-old Tonja Nannette Harry, found on July 9, 1983, in West Delta Park; 14-year-old Angela Dina Anderson, whose body was found in a room of a vacant house on September 22, 1983; and 29-year-old Latanga Lee Watts, whose body was found in some grass near a pedestrian bridge on March 18, 1987.

All those killed were prostitutes and each was sexually assaulted and strangled.

A peculiar similarity was that all four victims had their breasts exposed and their pants were either unzipped, unbuttoned or pulled down.

Shortly after his arrest, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Immediately after his arrest, Jackson was taken in for questioning, lasting from 10 AM to 6 PM, and from approximately 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM on the next day.

During the first interrogation, he gave contradictory testimony, which was recorded both on tape and video.

In it, he claimed that he was not guilty, but suggested that it was possible he could have murdered someone as, at that time, he had a severe drug addiction which, coupled with his amnesia, led him to blank out in his states of rage.

In the early 2000s, Jackson divorced his second wife and moved into an apartment in North Portland, where he gradually become very secluded but was still well-regarded by friends and neighbors.

A few years later, however, his mental condition began to rapidly deteriorate, and by 2006, he was arrested twice on DUI and reckless driving charges.

Later that year, he fired a rifle into the street through his apartment balcony door and then called the police, claiming to the officers that an intruder had attempted to burglarize his apartment via climbing up the balcony - an inspection of the premises revealed nothing that could substantiate his claims.

By the following year, Jackson had made several dozen calls to the local police department, claiming that burglars had attempted to enter his apartment and forced him to fire upon them.

After police arrived, he refused to let them inside and threatened to beat them with a stick.

This prompted the officers to enter the apartment and subdue him by force, all the while Jackson threatened to shoot them.

Due to his erratic behavior, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, which concluded that he was unfit to stand trial and instead should be treated at a mental health facility.

After a 4-year treatment, Jackson was released, but with another evaluation diagnosing him with paranoid schizophrenia.

The latter greatly affected his ability to learn, leading to Jackson dropping out of school after the 10th grade.

During this time, he began to spend his free time in the company of vagrants who led criminal lifestyles, after which he himself began to commit petty theft.

From 2011 to 2015, Jackson did not work, lived with relatives, and lived on a monthly SSI disability check allowance of $759.

During this period, he experienced problems with insomnia, took medication for depression, suffered from bouts of hypertension, and had difficulty walking.

The killings remained unsolved until forensic evidence led to his arrest in 2015.

Jackson's arrest, mental status, and murder trial have been the subject of controversy, culminating with a plea deal that let him off with time served, which was greatly criticized by the family members of his victims.

Jackson was found deceased at his home on July 18, 2023.

On October 15, 2015, thanks to forensic evidence collected over the years, Jackson was arrested and charged with four murders committed in the Portland area from 1983 to 1987.