On the evening of April 12, 2002, a couple walking their dog found the body of 45-year-old Bobby (also spelled Bobbie in some reports) Jackson in a wooded area of an upscale Atlanta suburb. Jackson, a MARTA bus driver and father who was an Atlanta native, was wrapped in a quilt and bound with silver duct tape covering his head and face except for one ear; his hands were tied behind his back and his feet were bound. The autopsy listed ligature strangulation with upper airway obstruction as the cause of death and recorded cuts, abrasions, a broken neck bone and hemorrhaging consistent with severe beating. A distinctive lion’s head ring and a necklace Jackson usually wore were missing. Investigators focused on Jackson’s relationships.

His then partner Jessica Smith said Jackson had told her he was going to retrieve belongings from his ex-girlfriend Shirley Lyons the night he died. Blood matching Jackson’s DNA and new bedding and curtains similar to the quilt were found at Lyons’s home. Lyons ultimately confessed in a videotaped statement that she had hired Khalique Shariff and assisted in the killing; Shariff later confessed as well.

Does anyone have memories of Jackson or information about the people and places involved that could shed more light on what led up to that night?