Tameka Susan Jackson, 37, was killed in her Lansing home on March 13, 2020. A lifelong Lansing resident, she worked at Meridian Magnesium Products of America in Eaton Rapids and enjoyed roller skating, music, and reading. Family and friends remember her for a loving heart and an easy smile.

Her death followed a confrontation over a small drug debt. According to the case account, two men — Rodolfo Alvarez and John William Kennedy — forced their way into the Ionia Street residence where Jackson and her boyfriend, Augustus Robinson, were. An argument escalated and Kennedy fatally shot Jackson multiple times; Robinson was critically injured.

Both men were arrested and prosecuted. Kennedy pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and assault with intent to murder and was sentenced in 2021 to 35 to 75 years. Alvarez’s case went to jury trial on some counts in November 2023; he later pleaded no contest to manslaughter as a fourth-time habitual offender and received 13 to 50 years.