On December 14, 2025, Jaiden Jackson, an 18-year-old Black male, was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a running SUV that had come to rest in a ditch along Salter Road in northeast Houston. Emergency responders pronounced Jackson dead at the scene; he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and the incident is being investigated as a homicide.

Detectives recovered surveillance video and collected witness statements. Investigators say Jackson had arranged to meet someone in a nearby parking lot before the vehicle was found. A physical altercation reportedly erupted during that encounter, and the other man produced a firearm, shooting Jackson multiple times; the vehicle then rolled into the ditch.

Authorities identified the suspect as Ben Jerry Gage Jr., who was taken into custody on December 15 and booked into the Harris County Jail. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office filed capital murder charges. The motive for the meeting and argument remains under investigation.

If anyone has information about Jaiden’s movements that night or witnessed the confrontation, please share what you know with investigators.