Ricky Smith, a 53-year-old Black man from Macon, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of September 5, 2015, at a home on Macon Avenue where he lived with his girlfriend. Deputies were dispatched at about 1:03 a.m.; Donna Jackson, then 45, called and said she had shot her boyfriend in self-defense. Smith was found with a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest, taken to the Medical Center, Navicent Health, and pronounced dead shortly after.

Investigators quickly moved beyond the initial self-defense claim. Jackson was taken for questioning and booked on a murder charge the same day; prosecutors later said she tried to stage the scene by placing two kitchen knives under Smith’s arms before medics and law enforcement arrived. The case was repeatedly delayed for years because Jackson filed for incompetency, there were changes in counsel, and she attempted to represent herself, leaving Smith’s family waiting for answers and holding annual gatherings in his memory.

A Bibb County jury ultimately found Jackson guilty of murdering Ricky Smith, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Did anyone who knew Ricky or who was in that neighborhood that night see or hear anything that could shed more light on what happened?