At that moment, one year ago, her 20-year-old daughter, Mahogany Jackson, was being held captive and tortured sexually and physically throughout the course of the day-long ordeal before being fatally shot.
“The first thing I thought when I woke up today was that they were torturing my daughter at this time last year,’’ Maddox said Tuesday.
“Even though I’ve never saw not one of the videos, it’s like I can see what happened, what went on,’’ she said. “It’s terrible.”
Less than 24 hours later, Jackson was found dead on a Birmingham roadside.
“They did my daughter terrible,’’ Maddox said. “They treated her like she was a dog, like a nobody.”
“And there was nothing I could do about it,’’ she said. “Absolutely nothing.”
To mark the anniversary of her kidnapping and murder, Maddox and others gathered Tuesday to pray together and release balloons in Jackson’s memory.
“As dark as today was last year,’’ Maddox said, “I just wanted something nice and positive, with good vibes.”
Those charged in Jackson’s death are Brandon Pope, 25, Francis “Ace” Harris, 26, and Jeremiah “Kodak” McDowell, 19, Blair Green, 26, Si’Niya McCall, 24, Teja Lewis, 27, Giovonnie Clapp, 24, and Airana Lashay Robinson, 24.
Green, McCall, Lewis, Clapp and Robinson were initially arrested on felony murder, but a grand jury in September increased the charges against them to capital murder.
The others were already charged with capital murder. Harris, authorities said, is the alleged shooter.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, saying execution is warranted because ‘’the capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel compared to other capital offenses.”
The investigation began Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, when Jackson’s family received messages from her saying she was being held against her will and to call police. She also sent her location, which was the apartment of her friend – Lewis.
The messages were sent about 4 a.m. but not seen by family until shortly before 8 a.m.
Family and police then went to Lewis’s apartment, who initially denied Jackson had been there, but later said she had been there but had left about 2 a.m.
Police and family continued throughout Sunday to search and investigate until Jackson’s body was found early Monday on southwest Birmingham street known as Dead Man’s Road, an illegal trash dumping site.
Birmingham homicide Det. Mark Green previously testified that a witness came forward early in the investigation with videos, evidence and the location of Jackson’s body.
That witness, Det. Green said, came forward to clear his name after he felt he had been accused on Facebook as being involved in Jackson’s disappearance.
Det. Green said Jackson possibly stole a gun from someone, and someone had then stolen it back from her and she was upset. That, he said, may have led to her violent death.
While Jackson was held against her will, Det. Green has previously testified, she was forced at gunpoint to perform oral sex on suspect Green. She was also stripped, punched, spat on, kicked and dragged by her hair to a vehicle.
The attacks happened at two locations – one on McMillon Avenue at the home of Pope and the second at Lewis’s home at Serenity apartments.
The detective also said one of the suspects discovered by looking at Jackson’s phone that she had messaged family members, saying she was being held hostage and sending them her location.
It was shortly after that was discovered that Harris, Pope and McDowell left Serenity apartments with Jackson.
Pope told police he was driving Harris’s Chevrolet Malibu and Jackson was told they were going to Dead Man’s Road to clean trash out of Harris’s car before taking her home.
Both Pope and McDowell said they – including Jackson – were cleaning trash out of Harris’s vehicle when Harris walked up behind Jackson and shot her in the back of the head.
Maddox said past year has been tough.
“I’ve not had a good night’s sleep since this happened,’’ she said. “I’m always almost up by 3:30 a.m. or 4 a.m.”
Not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about her daughter.
“I think about my child, I would say, all the time,’’ Maddox said. “There’s always something, good or bad, that reminds me of her.”
“That’s my daughter,’’ she said. “You just can’t forget that you birthed a child and they’re no longer here, and then the way that she was done, it’s constantly on my mind.”
Maddox said she’s so thankful for her other children and her grandchildren, which includes Jackson’s young daughter.
As hard as the year of “firsts” has been, Maddox said she hope something good eventually comes out of it, in her daughter’s name.
The family was planning to privately visit Jackson’s grave site and take her flowers.
“I just didn’t want this day to come and me only see what happened that day,’’ Maddox said.
“I wanted to do something beautiful instead of dark and gloomy. I wanted to send as many pink balloons as I could into the sky, to my baby.”
