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World's Most Evil Killers - Season 10 Episode 4 -
Kenneth Jackson
Kenneth Jackson
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FunTranscript
00:00On September the 13th, 2007, a woman's body was found in the burnt-out remains of a stolen van
00:09in Hillsborough County, Florida.
00:12When she was jogging in the early morning darkness, he abducted her and dragged her
00:18into a secluded location just off of a main roadway where he raped her and stabbed her to death.
00:24She did nothing wrong. She was just a victim of an evil person.
00:28Investigators were struggling to find any clues, but the killer's loose lips soon led detectives to his door.
00:36When the news came on about a body, he seemed kind of excited about the whole conversation.
00:42It was almost as if he had more information than what she even heard on the TV.
00:48The man in question was unemployed 25-year-old Kenneth Jackson.
00:53Jackson showed absolutely no remorse for what he had done.
00:58He's a psychopathic killer.
01:00He was so proud of what he'd done that he had to talk about it.
01:06Kenneth Jackson had inadvertently revealed himself as one of the world's most evil killers.
01:11The man in theåres.
01:15The man in theåres.
01:16On June 5th, 2013, 30-year-old Kenneth Jackson
01:41was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering mother-of-three, Cooke Tran.
01:47He'd ambushed her while she was out on an early morning run
01:51in her hometown of Sefna, a small community just outside Tampa in Florida.
01:57We're talking about a very small area of Florida,
02:01so you can imagine that a murder would send shockwaves through that small community.
02:06They were literally horrifying.
02:08I think the impact only reinforced the notion that women aren't safe running alone in the dark.
02:18They're an easy target.
02:20No matter how many self-defense classes they may take
02:24or they may carry a pepper spray, it's not enough.
02:30It's just the element of surprise and the strength of the predator
02:35is too much for any woman to overcome.
02:40Kenneth Jackson showed no remorse for taking the life of an innocent woman.
02:44He had no emotion to the fact that this was a woman with school-age children
02:54that she was working to take care of.
02:57He didn't have respect for life in general.
03:01He didn't seem to care.
03:03Everything was only about himself at all times.
03:06This killer story begins on June 26th, 1982.
03:15Kenneth Ray Jackson was born in Hillsborough County, Florida.
03:19He was the product of an inappropriate and unlawful relationship.
03:24It's hard to imagine a less satisfactory childhood than Kenny Jackson's.
03:28His mother, when he was conceived, was 14.
03:33Her partner at the time was 28.
03:35She gave him up, effectively, at the age of six months
03:38to her mother, his grandmother, and her boyfriend.
03:42Kenny did have a rough upbringing.
03:45He was moved around from different family members.
03:48He suffered some abuse when he was growing up, physical abuse.
03:51He saw a lot of abuse.
03:53And it wasn't just at home where Jackson had a difficult time.
03:57Probably, inevitably, Jackson's school reports
04:01reflected that he was aggressive, he was belligerent in cars.
04:06He was just a really, really difficult boy.
04:10His teachers raised concerns about his behaviour,
04:14about the way he was turned out when he came to school,
04:18and they had huge difficulties finding who his guardians even were,
04:25who it was who was supposed to be looking after this child.
04:29I don't think he had any stability in his life,
04:32so not surprising that he turned towards criminality.
04:39In 2003, at the age of 21,
04:43Kenneth Jackson was sentenced to five years in prison
04:46after a spate of car thefts.
04:49He was released four years later on July the 26th, 2007,
04:54and headed to the small residential community of Sefna
04:58in Hillsborough County.
05:01When he got out of prison,
05:03he ended up moving in with a couple,
05:06the O'Neills, Linda and Wally O'Neill,
05:09and they allowed him to move into the trailer with them.
05:12Wally was Jackson's grandmother's old boyfriend,
05:17the boyfriend who'd been with his grandmother
05:19when he arrived with her at the age of six months.
05:22Although they must have had a very strange relationship,
05:26it was probably the only place in which Kenny Jackson felt at home.
05:31On September 13th, 2007,
05:4012 miles away, in the neighbouring town of Gibsonton,
05:44Hillsborough County Fire Rescue were called to a van
05:47engulfed in flames at 7 o'clock in the morning.
05:51What they discovered when they got there
05:53was a scene of unimaginable horror.
05:55When the fire department put the vehicle fire out,
05:59they discovered a body inside.
06:03That, of course, triggered phone calls to the homicide section,
06:07and supervisors had detectives respond to the area.
06:11So I went down to the Gibsonton area.
06:15At that point, I was assigned to be the lead detective on the case.
06:19The body was charred beyond recognition.
06:25It was literally a mess.
06:28With no identification to be found on the charred remains,
06:32detectives turned their attention to the burnt-out car.
06:35I was told at the time that they had recovered
06:38a licence plate off of the vehicle,
06:40and, of course, that was a start.
06:44We were able to make contact with the owner.
06:47We learned that the vehicle had been listed
06:49at the gentleman's job site as for sale.
06:54It had been parked in the parking lot there.
06:56He worked part-time at an auto parts store.
06:59Repairing it to sell it,
07:01he had a sign for sale in the window.
07:05After we determined that this vehicle must have been stolen,
07:09we had the van taken back to our crime scene offices
07:12at the sheriff's office.
07:13But during this time, during the course of the day,
07:16there were other events unfolding
07:18that I wasn't immediately aware of.
07:23In a seemingly unrelated incident 12 miles north of the torch car,
07:28a discovery had been made in the grounds of a church in Sefner.
07:32The sergeant was notified that there were some clothing items,
07:36shoes, and some blood.
07:40that had been located in front of the St. Francis Church on 579 north of MLK.
07:49There had been a yard crew,
07:52and they had actually, in mowing the lawns,
07:56found this bloody clothing,
07:58and a sheriff's officer deputy had gone out there,
08:01and they had recovered some of that clothing
08:03and items that were left behind.
08:06At this stage, police were unsure about whether these two events were connected,
08:12until a panicked young man contacted them for help.
08:18Three in the afternoon or so,
08:20I received a call from my dispatch
08:22saying there was a young man there
08:25who was looking for his mother,
08:28and she'd been missing,
08:29that she had left early in the morning
08:31and had never came back.
08:35We had this person that we believed was a female
08:39and could not identify at that point.
08:42It's like, yeah, we need to check this out.
08:47Where they were calling in from
08:48was just north of where that St. Francis Church was
08:51and where the clothes and the blood was located.
08:54I went up there, and I looked at the area,
08:58and that was when it was very evident
09:00that there was not a little bit of blood.
09:03Somebody had died there.
09:07The missing woman was 50-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Cuk Tran.
09:12Meanwhile, more information was coming through
09:15about the unidentified body found in the van.
09:18It was becoming increasingly likely
09:20that the missing person's report and the body were connected.
09:25It appeared she had Asian features.
09:28And in learning that this was an Asian male
09:33that was reporting his missing Asian mother,
09:36of course, everyone was starting to think,
09:38this is our woman.
09:41I asked for some details about some particular jewelry
09:45because this body that was burned up in the van
09:48still had lots of jewelry on.
09:51We were able to link jewelry from pictures in the house
09:55to what was on her person.
09:57So at this point in time,
09:59we were pretty positive that Cuk Tran was our victim.
10:02The small community of Sefner was left in shock.
10:07Detectives had no clue who had committed this terrible crime,
10:10but the killer was about to make a huge mistake
10:13that would lead police straight to his door.
10:17On the morning of September 13th, 2007,
10:34in Hillsborough County, Florida,
10:36a pile of bloodied clothes had been discovered
10:38in the grounds of a church.
10:4012 miles away, the charred remains of a woman
10:44had been found inside a burning van.
10:46Detectives believed her to be 50-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Cuk Tran
10:51from the town of Sefner.
10:52She was a mother of three.
10:56She had an older son who was off at college,
11:00a 16-year-old that was going to high school,
11:03and a 10-year-old.
11:04She worked a full-time job as a nail technician.
11:09She lived at home in a trailer park,
11:12and she would get up very early in the morning
11:15to try to find a little bit of time for herself
11:18to go for a walk or a jog to try to take care of herself.
11:23Cuk Tran had settled in Hillsborough County
11:26after leaving her homeland in search of a better life.
11:29Her and her husband were part of the exodus from Vietnam
11:33in the 70s and 80s
11:35after the communists took over South Vietnam
11:39after the Vietnam War.
11:42It sounded like a pretty horrific struggle
11:46after the war for her and her children
11:48and her husband to come here.
11:51For Mrs. Tran to leave a war zone
11:54and come to the United States
11:56was an example of the American dream.
11:59She was escaping violence of the war
12:02and coming to a country
12:04where people are believed to be safe
12:06and given opportunity.
12:09For Cuk Tran, however,
12:11the United States was far from the safe haven she'd hoped for,
12:15and her life had been cut short in the most brutal way.
12:20With no immediate suspects,
12:23police started to look into Cuk Tran's life for clues.
12:26There were some issues with her marriage.
12:31They weren't necessarily living together,
12:34but they were still good friends.
12:37Both parents were still very much focused
12:39on taking care of the kids.
12:42She would get up, do some exercise.
12:45Her husband would come by in the mornings,
12:48help get the kids ready for school.
12:50She would get back from her morning exercise routine,
12:53and she would get them to school,
12:55and then she would go to work.
12:57She was a responsible employee,
13:00got along well with everyone.
13:02She was evidently well-liked by her customers.
13:07She did nothing wrong.
13:09She was just a victim of an evil person.
13:11Cuk Tran's daily morning run
13:16would take her past St. Francis Church in Sefner.
13:19It was a very large church property
13:21where it had quite a bit of open land
13:24between the roadway and the church itself.
13:28If a car was going by at 5 in the morning,
13:31it wouldn't see you down there.
13:33Detectives started working on the theory
13:36that Cuk Tran was ambushed by her killer
13:38while she was out on her morning run.
13:41She had a routine.
13:43He would run at 5 a.m. in the morning before work.
13:47This was her only free time.
13:50It was really the only time she had to herself,
13:52which was even more tragic.
13:56That's all she had,
13:57and she never dreamed that there was this predator
14:00waiting there for her.
14:03This isn't an area
14:04where there would be lots of women to choose from,
14:07so this person had probably gone to that area before,
14:11checked it out, waited around,
14:14seen how many people were around,
14:16whether they were likely to get caught.
14:20I don't think that this was opportunistic.
14:22I think this was targeted.
14:26We wanted to get the guy.
14:28I mean, that's the whole goal, right?
14:30You want to solve this thing.
14:31Detectives were convinced that Cuk Tran was killed
14:35in the grounds of the church,
14:37and then her body driven away in the van
14:40that was found on fire 12 miles away.
14:43The autopsy confirmed the horrific circumstances of her death.
14:47The medical examiner was able to determine
14:49there were multiple stab wounds in the neck.
14:54The carotid artery had been cut.
14:56One of the stab wounds had cut through the victim's windpipe
15:01and would have probably prevented sufficient air
15:04from being able to go through the vocal cords
15:06so that she could vocalize.
15:08She was dead before the fire ever started.
15:12There was no soot in the windpipe
15:14or carbon monoxide in the blood.
15:20The autopsy also discovered a possible motive for the crime.
15:24She had been raped.
15:28The medical examiner had collected blood slides
15:31and the vaginal swabs and all for DNA,
15:34but we didn't have any comparisons at that point.
15:36Usually when people use fire to destroy a body,
15:43it's because they want to eliminate
15:46any forensic evidence at all.
15:50They think, I'm never going to get caught
15:53because I have destroyed every single piece of evidence.
15:57Well, fire doesn't always destroy every piece of evidence.
16:01This would have been an overconfidence, I think, in that person.
16:08Desperate to find Cooke Tran's killer,
16:11detectives started to hand out flyers in the trailer park
16:14where she'd lived, appealing for information from her neighbours.
16:18There was probably a hundred or so trailers in this trailer park.
16:21We went house to house, handing the flyers out,
16:25talking to neighbours.
16:27There was one trailer that I actually stopped at,
16:30which was with an eye shot of where the victim's house was,
16:35her trailer.
16:36And there was an elderly individual that was there,
16:39a man who was very inquisitive as to why I was there.
16:43So I finished walking through.
16:47It was extremely hot out that day.
16:49I was thirsty, so I decided to go to the gas station
16:53at the corner of MLK and 579,
16:55which is just to the south of where St. Francis Church was.
16:59And I walk in, I get my drink, and I'm soaking wet.
17:03I've got a shirt tie.
17:05I walk up, I pay, and all of a sudden something hit me.
17:09I was saying, you know what?
17:10I'm going to go get a flyer.
17:11I come back, I give the flyer to the clerk.
17:15As I start talking to her, she starts explaining
17:18how there was this individual who was in the store.
17:22And when the news came on about a body and an investigation,
17:28he seemed kind of excited about the whole conversation
17:31and the subject matter and everything that was being said.
17:34But also, it was almost as if he had more information
17:37than what she even heard being said on the TV.
17:39But really what stuck out to her was he was telling her
17:43he had seen Cooctron jogging.
17:45And the only time she did that was very early in the morning,
17:49right around 5, 5.30 in the morning.
17:51And that's when she was abducted.
17:53So that was pretty critical.
17:54The stranger's story confirmed what the police already knew
17:59about Cooctron's morning routine.
18:01But it wasn't information they'd released to the public.
18:05This guy's talking and he's saying things
18:07that really haven't been publicly made.
18:10So that's a clue.
18:13That was a very strong,
18:16OK, we need to jump on this.
18:19And that started the ball rolling.
18:23I started asking her questions.
18:25Well, you know, who is this individual?
18:28Do you know where he lives?
18:29And she proceeds to tell me that his name's Kenny
18:33and he had just gotten released from prison.
18:37So I asked her, what did he go to prison for?
18:40Do you know?
18:41And she said, I think Grand Theft Auto.
18:45At this point in time now in the investigation,
18:48we know that the van that was burned with our victim in it
18:52was stolen from the advanced auto parts,
18:55literally two blocks from where I was standing
18:57at the gas station
18:58and just south of where the victim was murdered.
19:03I said, where does he live?
19:04Do you know anything about him?
19:05She said, yeah, he lives in the trailer park north of here.
19:08It turned out that this man, Kenny,
19:13lived in exactly the same trailer park as Cook Tran.
19:17Detectives finally had a breakthrough in the case,
19:20but all they had to go on was a single name, Kenny.
19:24They knew they had to find this man and fast
19:27before he killed again.
19:38On September 19th, 2007,
19:43six days after the murder of 50-year-old Cook Tran
19:46in Hillsborough County, Florida,
19:49detectives had their first lead.
19:52A man called Kenny,
19:53who'd aroused the suspicion of a gas station clerk
19:56when talking to her about the murder,
19:59lived in the same trailer park as the victim.
20:02Troy was reminded of a strangely inquisitive man
20:05he'd interviewed at the trailer park.
20:08Now, all of a sudden,
20:09the red flags start going off even more
20:11because now I realize, wait a minute,
20:13I wonder if this Kenny guy
20:14is the guy that I was sitting there asking myself.
20:18This guy's awful nosy.
20:19He's asking, like, a lot of detailed questions.
20:22Troy made his way back to the trailer park.
20:25The man he'd previously spoken to was Wally O'Neill,
20:29who'd once been in a relationship
20:31with Kenny's grandmother.
20:33Wally confirmed that Kenny
20:35was, in fact, 25-year-old Kenneth Jackson.
20:40Police discovered this wasn't the first time
20:43he'd been on the radar of law enforcement.
20:47He had had several arrests in the past.
20:51He had recently gotten out of prison.
20:53He hadn't been in the area long.
20:57Wally confirmed that Jackson had been living with him,
21:01but told Troy that he'd left town
21:03just two days before.
21:05We learned that at the time of the murder
21:08and the vehicle being burned,
21:10that he was not at home.
21:13So they couldn't give an alibi
21:15as to his whereabouts,
21:17but they did know for a fact
21:18that he did happen to be in the area
21:20where the burned van was.
21:23We haven't made contact
21:24with our person of interest yet,
21:26but we are getting verification
21:28that he's in the right place
21:30at the right times
21:31to be associated to it.
21:35Detectives learned that Kenneth Jackson
21:37had gone to live with his girlfriend
21:39in North Florida.
21:41On September 20th,
21:43a week after the murder,
21:45they drove upstate to find him.
21:47We went up there
21:49and asked if he was willing to speak with us.
21:50He rode with us in the car
21:53over to the Carabelle Police Department office
21:57where we could sit down
21:59and do an audio recording
22:00and try and find out what he might know.
22:07While collecting DNA samples from Jackson,
22:11the detectives got a lucky break.
22:13During the course of this conversation,
22:15we got around to the clothes
22:17that he was wearing,
22:18and he said,
22:19you know,
22:19I think this is what I was wearing that day.
22:22It's like,
22:23can we get that
22:24for, you know,
22:25testing?
22:26And he said,
22:27well,
22:28I don't have anything else.
22:29I said,
22:29we'll take you
22:30to go buy clothes.
22:31We went and we bought him
22:33new shoes,
22:34new shirt.
22:36So he gave us permission
22:37to take his clothes.
22:39He considered himself
22:40smarter than the police.
22:42So that made him so careless.
22:45It was time
22:47for investigators
22:48to sit down
22:49and interview
22:50their prime suspect.
22:51They were certain
22:52of Jackson's movements
22:53on the day of the murder,
22:55but they wanted to hear it
22:56from the horse's mouth.
22:58During the course
22:59of our investigation,
23:00we put him down there
23:01where the van was burned.
23:03And that was huge
23:04because he had
23:05a family member
23:05that identified him
23:07being down in Gibsonson.
23:09Why?
23:10He lives in Sefner.
23:11Why would you be down
23:12in Gibsonson?
23:13And so everything
23:14just started falling in.
23:16So we wanted to get him
23:17locked into a timeline
23:18as to where were you at?
23:20What were you doing?
23:21And we were able to do that.
23:23But we were also able
23:24to get him to give
23:25too many inconsistencies
23:26in his interviews
23:27that could prove
23:28that he was lying.
23:28And he could not stick
23:30with a solid alibi
23:31because he didn't have one.
23:35In all of the lies
23:37that he told law enforcement,
23:38the one thing
23:39he was consistent on
23:40was that he did not
23:41know Kuk Tron.
23:43And they showed him
23:43photographs of her
23:44that were very good
23:46depictions of her
23:47in the year or two
23:48before her death.
23:49And he insisted,
23:51I don't know her.
23:52I don't know anything
23:53about her.
23:54I've never seen her before.
23:55Even though she lived
23:57about five trailers
23:58down from his.
24:00And you could step out
24:01from the doors
24:02of those trailers
24:03and see the other trailer
24:05is how close he lived to her.
24:06But he insisted
24:07he'd never seen her before.
24:08He was obviously
24:19super confident
24:20that he'd obliterated
24:22all of the evidence
24:23and that he could sit
24:25and play games
24:25with the police,
24:26almost,
24:27because they were never
24:28going to pin this one
24:29on him.
24:31We both believed
24:32that we had our guy.
24:34After that first interview,
24:35we had our DNA
24:37that he gave us.
24:38We had the clothing
24:39that he gave us.
24:41And Troy and I
24:42got in the car
24:43and we drove
24:43from Carabelle, Florida
24:45back to just north
24:46of Gainesville
24:47to meet up
24:48with one of the detectives
24:49from Hillsborough here
24:50who was meeting us
24:51halfway so we could
24:52pass that off
24:53so they could immediately
24:54get that back
24:55to FDLE the next day
24:56to start the DNA comparisons.
24:58Six days later
25:02on September 26,
25:04the DNA reports
25:05came back
25:06from FDLE,
25:07the Florida Department
25:08of Law Enforcement.
25:10I received a phone call
25:13from FDLE
25:14stating that they
25:15had just gotten
25:16the report
25:17from their DNA analysis
25:19that said
25:21that the samples
25:22collected from
25:23Kenneth Jackson
25:24did match
25:25the semen
25:27that was collected
25:28from the medical examiner
25:30during the autopsy
25:31of Cook Tran.
25:32At that moment,
25:33it's like relief.
25:34You realize,
25:35okay,
25:36we knew we were on point,
25:37we knew we had our guy.
25:40Jackson had lied
25:41to detectives
25:42but the evidence
25:43gave away the truth.
25:45We had dealt
25:45with Kenneth Jackson
25:46for hours
25:47and he said
25:49that he didn't know
25:50this person,
25:51he had never met
25:51this person,
25:52didn't even know
25:53that she was a neighbor
25:53in his trailer park
25:54and now we have
25:56his semen and her.
25:59That is enough
26:00to get an arrest warrant.
26:02As soon as
26:03the DNA samples
26:05come back
26:05and they are confirmed
26:07as being
26:07Kenneth Jackson's,
26:09the police fly
26:10by helicopter
26:11to his new abode
26:12in North Florida
26:13to find him
26:14but when they get there,
26:16he's not there.
26:18We had the sheriff's office
26:20up there
26:21and the local
26:22township PD
26:24and also
26:26the girlfriend's
26:27mother's assistance.
26:29She had some ideas
26:30and she thought,
26:31well, maybe they're
26:32over this one place
26:33fishing
26:33and they were,
26:34in fact.
26:35So this was like
26:36one in the morning
26:36but they were both
26:38up there
26:39sitting at the dock.
26:41Kenneth Jackson's luck
26:42was about to run out.
26:44I talked with Kenny
26:45and said,
26:46we've got some new
26:47information we need
26:48to talk to you about.
26:49Would you mind
26:50coming with us
26:51back to the station
26:51to talk about it?
26:55No matter what it was
26:56that we talked
26:57to him about,
26:58he was very
26:58obstinate against
27:00anything that we said
27:02even when we could
27:03point out
27:04his inconsistencies,
27:06it didn't matter.
27:07He just was like,
27:08it was like water
27:09off a duck's back,
27:10you know,
27:11he just didn't care.
27:12But this time
27:13investigators were
27:15armed with a smoking gun.
27:17I focused on the
27:18point of DNA again
27:20because I had asked him
27:21at the first interview,
27:23will your DNA
27:23show up on this lady
27:25at any point?
27:26And he was like,
27:27no, no, no,
27:27I've never met her.
27:28There's no way possible.
27:29He knew he had
27:32burned up this victim
27:33in a van.
27:35He believed he had
27:36absolutely nothing
27:36to worry about
27:37because that was
27:38all burned up
27:39and there was
27:40nothing to be found.
27:42He felt that
27:43he was safe.
27:45Well, in fact,
27:46your DNA is on her,
27:48Kenny.
27:48How did that happen?
27:50Denial, denial, denial.
27:52So that your DNA
27:53just miraculously
27:54just appeared
27:55on this woman,
27:56on this dead woman.
27:57It just miraculously
27:58appeared.
27:59Someone who you've
28:00never met before.
28:01Someone who you
28:02don't know who it is.
28:03And you're going to
28:04sit here and tell us
28:05that you don't know how
28:06on top of the other lies
28:07you told us.
28:08And you're going to tell us
28:08that you don't know
28:09how that happened
28:10and you want us
28:10to just believe that, right?
28:12You can do what
28:13you want to.
28:13We know what we're believing.
28:15Forensic evidence
28:16is proven to us.
28:17And he finally said,
28:19well, if you have
28:20such good information,
28:21why don't you arrest me then?
28:22It's like, okay.
28:24We will do that.
28:25On September 27th, 2007,
28:32two weeks after the murder
28:34of Cook Tran,
28:35Kenneth Jackson
28:36was formally arrested.
28:38Despite his constant denial,
28:40detectives were convinced
28:42he was a dangerous predator.
28:44He planned that entire event.
28:46He stole the van
28:47from the advanced auto parts,
28:50left it parked
28:50where he knew
28:51he could ambush Cook Tran
28:53because he knows
28:54she walks, runs
28:55in the mornings.
28:57And he targeted her.
28:58And it is as evil as it gets.
29:01This type of attack,
29:03a stranger in the dark
29:05jumps out of the bushes
29:07to attack you,
29:09is the nightmare
29:10that sits in the head
29:12of every single woman.
29:14And if it actually happens to you,
29:18all of those nightmares
29:20come to life at once.
29:22So for Cook Tran,
29:24that must have been
29:26the most terrifying moment
29:29that she had ever experienced.
29:33He thought everything through
29:34all the way up
29:35until the getaway.
29:37Like, once he burned the van,
29:39he didn't have a plan
29:40of what he was going to do
29:41after that.
29:42But I am convinced
29:43that he would have killed again.
29:45Given the opportunity,
29:46had we not have caught him,
29:48he would have killed again.
29:52After he was arrested,
29:54information on Kenneth Jackson
29:56continued to come in.
29:58One of the other
29:59significant pieces of evidence
30:00that the police received
30:01was from a relative of Jackson's
30:04who gave them a DVD
30:06which he apparently
30:07habitually watched.
30:09It was a pornographic DVD
30:12which included,
30:13and particularly,
30:15Asian women
30:15and also had elements
30:17of bondage.
30:19Everything lines up
30:20that he's living out
30:21his fantasy.
30:22To me,
30:23Jackson appears to be
30:25on his first outing
30:26as a potential serial killer.
30:29He wasn't responding
30:30to some provocation.
30:32He was acting
30:33to please himself.
30:36And I think
30:37the violence pleased him,
30:38the fire pleased him,
30:40the cat and mouse
30:41he thought he was going
30:42to have with the police
30:43excited him.
30:45This is a really
30:46dangerous individual.
30:50Prosecutors felt
30:51they had enough evidence
30:52to charge Kenneth Jackson
30:53with murder.
30:55He was charged
30:56with first-degree
30:57premeditated murder.
30:59He was charged
31:00with sexual battery
31:01with a deadly weapon.
31:03And he was charged
31:04with grand theft
31:05motor vehicle
31:06of the van
31:07that he stole
31:07so that he could
31:08dispose of
31:09Miss Tron's body.
31:11Despite denying
31:12everything to detectives,
31:14Kenneth Jackson
31:15suddenly rediscovered
31:17the loose lips
31:18that had put him
31:19on the police's radar
31:20in the first place.
31:22While he was in custody
31:23for all that time,
31:25again,
31:25that man talked.
31:28He ran his mouth
31:29to everybody.
31:31He did discuss
31:33about how he raped
31:34the woman,
31:35he killed the woman,
31:36he burned her up
31:37in the van.
31:37But one of the
31:39common threads
31:39from each of these
31:41statements we got
31:42was that he never
31:43was talking in remorse.
31:46He was bragging
31:47about it.
31:49He was so proud
31:50of what he'd done
31:51that he had to
31:53talk about it.
31:54But if Jackson
31:56thought his fellow
31:57inmates would listen
31:58to his secrets
31:59in confidence,
32:00he was gravely mistaken.
32:02Multiple inmates
32:03came forward
32:04with all the stories
32:05Kenny was talking about.
32:06There were two of them
32:07that were in federal
32:08custody being held
32:09in the local jail
32:10on federal charges.
32:13He made statements
32:13to each of them
32:14independently
32:15where he talked
32:16about the fact
32:17that he had seen
32:18her running,
32:19had seen her jogging,
32:20had determined
32:21that he was going
32:22to abduct her.
32:24He gave descriptions
32:25of the murder
32:26and how he went
32:27about stabbing her
32:29and what was going on,
32:30how she was reacting
32:31to him.
32:33He used a pretty
32:34offensive pejorative
32:35in describing
32:37how he sexually
32:37assaulted her.
32:39So it was pretty
32:40compelling evidence
32:41to have that
32:42in front of the jury.
32:44Getting those leads
32:46and that information
32:47from other prisoners
32:48saying that he's bragging
32:50about what he did
32:52only boosted our case.
32:55With the trial
32:56on the horizon,
32:57prosecutors in Hillsborough
32:58County had DNA evidence,
33:01witness statements,
33:02and jailhouse informants.
33:03But would the jury
33:05find Kenneth Jackson guilty
33:06or would he be able
33:08to outsmart everyone
33:09and get away
33:10with murder?
33:16In October 2012,
33:25five years after
33:26the death
33:26of 50-year-old
33:27mother-of-three,
33:28Cook Tran,
33:29Kenneth Jackson,
33:31the man accused
33:31of her rape
33:32and murder,
33:33stood trial
33:34in Florida.
33:35It was one
33:36of the most heinous
33:37murder-rapes
33:38that had occurred
33:39that year.
33:40So there was
33:41a lot of TV
33:42there
33:43and print media.
33:44We had many,
33:47many witnesses
33:47and it went on
33:48for several weeks.
33:50We were seeking
33:50the death penalty
33:51in this case.
33:53The DNA was
33:54direct scientific evidence.
33:56But we wanted
33:57to give the jury
33:58an understanding
33:58of how the crime
34:00occurred
34:00and why it occurred.
34:02So we had lots
34:03of different types
34:03of evidence
34:04in this case
34:05from DNA scientific evidence
34:06to jailhouse snitches
34:09to other witnesses
34:10that he had made
34:11statements to
34:12that connected him
34:12to the crime.
34:14He planned
34:14this entire thing
34:15out to the point
34:16of stealing a van
34:17so that he can
34:18then stalk his prey.
34:20This was an extremely
34:22premeditated murder
34:23driven by
34:25an extremely
34:26evil motivation.
34:30Prosecutors
34:30were ready
34:31to present
34:32their case
34:32of what they believe
34:34happened on the morning
34:35of September 13th,
34:362007.
34:38He had seen
34:39her jogging
34:39in the early morning
34:40hours before
34:41he had become
34:42obsessed with her
34:43apparently
34:43and with the idea
34:45of abducting her.
34:46He positioned himself
34:48in an area
34:49in front of
34:50St. Francis Assisi Church
34:52where he knew
34:53she would be running
34:54or jogging.
34:55And when she came
34:56along in the darkness,
34:58he grabbed her,
34:59probably put the knife
35:00to her throat,
35:01and forced her
35:02off of the roadway.
35:03Mrs. Tron was surprised
35:06by this man
35:07leaping out
35:08of the darkness.
35:09There was no way
35:10she could have
35:10defended herself.
35:11It was just all
35:12too sudden.
35:13He took her down
35:14into this little valley
35:15which was concealed
35:17from view
35:17from the roadway.
35:19And he forced her
35:20down on the ground.
35:20He took her clothes
35:21off of her,
35:23probably ripped them
35:23off of her,
35:25and he raped her.
35:26And when she was
35:28screaming or yelling
35:29in pain
35:30and begging
35:31for her life,
35:32he began to stab
35:33her in the throat.
35:37He knew he was
35:38going to kill her.
35:39He knew he was
35:40going to rape her.
35:40This just speaks
35:41to an extremely
35:43depraved level
35:44of evil.
35:46He made the decision
35:48to take advantage
35:51of someone
35:52in the dark
35:53that he felt
35:54he could overpower.
35:56Then when he
35:58was in fear
35:59for maybe being
36:00found out
36:01because they were
36:01struggling,
36:02they were fighting,
36:03they were screaming,
36:04decided he could
36:06kill them.
36:07And then at that
36:07point to think
36:08that he could
36:09make all this
36:10go away
36:11by destroying
36:13this person
36:14literally by trying
36:15to burn them up,
36:17that is evil.
36:22On October 15th,
36:242012,
36:25Jackson's trial
36:26began at the
36:27Hillsborough County
36:27Circuit Court.
36:29In my opening
36:30statements,
36:31I told the jury
36:31he was trying
36:32to burn
36:33his biological evidence
36:35out of her body.
36:36His intent
36:37was to try
36:37to destroy her body
36:38because her body
36:39was evidence
36:40of the rape
36:41and the murder.
36:42It was all pre-planned.
36:43It was extremely
36:45cold-blooded,
36:47calculated.
36:48It stayed with me
36:49for a long time,
36:51even today.
36:53Jackson,
36:54who'd been all
36:55too keen
36:55to blab about
36:56the murder
36:57to his fellow inmates,
36:59suddenly didn't seem
37:00able to speak up
37:01in the courtroom.
37:02He didn't show
37:03any emotion
37:04at all
37:05throughout the trial.
37:06He just was
37:06sat quietly.
37:08It was kind
37:09of eerie.
37:10He had
37:11an eerie presence,
37:14this sort of
37:14calm,
37:15strange
37:16demeanor
37:17throughout.
37:19I thought
37:19he didn't mind
37:20being caught
37:21that much.
37:22Watching him,
37:23I think he had
37:24always wanted
37:25from the beginning
37:26to be able
37:27to boast about it.
37:28He appeared
37:29to enjoy
37:30the attention
37:31of the trial.
37:32He seemed
37:33to be very immature.
37:34He smiled a lot.
37:36He just didn't seem
37:37like he was
37:38taking the whole
37:39process seriously.
37:42He has got
37:43all eyes on him.
37:44This is his
37:45moment in the sun.
37:46He's not even
37:47thinking about
37:48what's going
37:49to happen
37:50afterwards.
37:52He couldn't
37:52hide
37:53his enjoyment
37:54at getting
37:55so much
37:56attention.
37:58Troy Morgan,
38:02the detective
38:02who'd made
38:03the initial
38:04breakthrough
38:04in the case,
38:05was called
38:06to testify.
38:07It's a great
38:08pride in being
38:08able to get
38:09up there
38:10and testify,
38:11finding out
38:11the information
38:12that kind
38:13of linked
38:13everything to
38:14him.
38:15And that was
38:16pretty much
38:16all the testimony,
38:17you know,
38:18that I really
38:18had to bring
38:19to the table,
38:19was being
38:21in the right
38:21place at the
38:21right time
38:22and asking
38:23the right
38:23question.
38:25The gas
38:26station attendant
38:27who Troy Morgan
38:28had spoken
38:28to wasn't
38:29the only
38:30witness called
38:31by the
38:31prosecution.
38:32There were
38:33witnesses who
38:34put him near
38:35the area
38:36where the
38:37van was
38:37found,
38:38and that
38:38was in
38:39the city
38:39of Gibsonton.
38:40The murder
38:40happened in
38:41the city
38:41of Sefner,
38:43and they
38:43are separated
38:44by about
38:4410,
38:4511,
38:4612 miles,
38:47so it's
38:47a significant
38:48distance.
38:49And there
38:49were witnesses,
38:50one of which
38:51knew him,
38:52put him
38:53walking on
38:54foot in
38:55Gibsonton
38:55that morning,
38:57and that
38:57really stood
38:58out to her.
38:59Why is
38:59Kenny down
39:00here in
39:01Gibsonton
39:01walking?
39:02How did
39:03he get
39:03here?
39:04That was
39:05significant
39:05because he
39:06told the
39:06detectives,
39:08and never
39:08would come
39:08off of the
39:09fact that
39:10he rode a
39:10bicycle from
39:12Sefner down
39:12to Gibsonton
39:13through the
39:14night,
39:14and that's
39:15why he
39:15was in
39:16Gibsonton.
39:16With the
39:19overwhelming
39:19evidence laid
39:20out, the
39:21prosecuting
39:22attorneys began
39:23their closing
39:24arguments.
39:25I remember
39:25arguing to
39:26the jury,
39:27there is
39:27probably no
39:28crime that
39:29is as
39:30personally
39:31invasive as
39:33a crime where
39:34a person is
39:36putting part of
39:36their body into
39:37another person
39:38against their
39:39will.
39:40And I think
39:41this may have
39:42impacted the
39:43women on the
39:44jury, and I
39:45argued to the
39:45jury the last
39:46voice she
39:47heard, and
39:48the last
39:48person's face
39:49she saw in
39:50her life on
39:51this earth was
39:52this defendant.
39:53The jury took
39:54less than a
39:55day to reach
39:56their verdict.
39:58The jury
39:58determined that
39:59he was guilty
40:00for the
40:01murder, the
40:03sexual battery,
40:04the grand
40:05theft auto, and
40:05the arson.
40:08It seemed the
40:09jury had no
40:10doubt in their
40:11minds about
40:12Jackson's guilt.
40:13When a jury
40:14returns a guilty
40:15verdict, the
40:15defendant is
40:16entitled to
40:17have the jury
40:17polled.
40:19A clerk asks
40:20each of the
40:21individual jurors
40:22to confirm that
40:23that is their
40:24verdict.
40:25And I've never
40:26heard this before.
40:26In any case, I've
40:27tried.
40:28Several of the
40:29jurors, when they
40:30responded yes,
40:31didn't just say
40:32yes, that's my
40:34verdict.
40:34They said yes.
40:36I know two of
40:37the women looked
40:38directly at the
40:39defendant and said
40:41it very vehemently
40:42like that.
40:43So that's what
40:44kind of stood
40:45out to me, was
40:47how much they
40:48believed in that
40:49verdict of guilty.
40:52The verdict was
40:53exactly the
40:54outcome the
40:55hardworking
40:55detectives had
40:56hoped for.
40:58To be able to
40:58get a positive
40:59result, it's what
41:00you want for
41:01every case.
41:02This one here,
41:03everything just
41:04kind of fell right
41:04into place, being
41:05at the right place
41:06at the right time.
41:07Sometimes it's
41:08better to be
41:08luckier than
41:09good.
41:10I mean, it's
41:11horrible what the
41:11people went
41:12through, and the
41:13families, what
41:13they've gone
41:14through, but it's
41:15a huge feeling of
41:17satisfaction when
41:19you can conclusively
41:21say, this is what
41:23happened, we got
41:25the guy.
41:26It doesn't change
41:27what happened, it's
41:28still a tragedy, but
41:31this is what we can
41:32give you for some
41:34sort of closure.
41:38A week later, on
41:41November 1st, 2012,
41:43the next phase of
41:44Kenneth Jackson's
41:45trial began.
41:46The murder
41:47conviction comes
41:48first, and then
41:49there's basically a
41:51second trial with
41:52the same jury to
41:54consider the death
41:55penalty.
41:56And then they come
41:56back to the same
41:57jury and ask for a
41:59vote.
42:00In this case, it
42:01was 11 to 1, which
42:03at the time was all
42:04the state needed.
42:06On June 5th, 2013,
42:1030-year-old Kenneth
42:11Jackson was sentenced
42:12to death.
42:14When the death
42:15penalty was imposed,
42:16he had absolutely no
42:17reaction.
42:18I don't even know
42:19that he cared.
42:21I couldn't tell.
42:22He just looked
42:23blankly ahead, and he
42:25didn't offer any
42:26remorse or anything
42:28like that.
42:29I will say it was
42:30very satisfying to
42:32find that he was
42:33found guilty, number
42:34one, but number two,
42:34that he was given
42:36the death penalty.
42:41That wasn't the
42:42end of Kenneth
42:43Jackson's story,
42:44however.
42:44In 2016, the
42:46United States Supreme
42:47Court agreed that
42:49Florida's capital
42:50sentencing scheme was
42:52unconstitutional, which
42:54led the Florida
42:54Supreme Court to
42:56abolish the state's
42:57existing death
42:58penalty law and
42:59require that a jury's
43:01recommendation for
43:02death must be
43:03unanimous.
43:03any case where we
43:05didn't have a
43:06unanimous verdict in
43:07the penalty phase was
43:08now subject to
43:09collateral attack, and
43:10that's what happened
43:11with Mr. Jackson's
43:12case.
43:13The case got
43:14reversed because we
43:15didn't have a
43:15unanimous verdict.
43:17The decision was
43:18made to allow him to
43:19plead to life, and
43:21that's what happened, and
43:22he was resentenced to
43:23a life sentence.
43:24whether he does life in
43:30prison without parole or
43:32whether he does death
43:33penalty, either way, he's
43:35off the street.
43:36I know for a fact that
43:38that person won't be
43:39hurting anybody outside
43:41of those prison walls, and
43:42that's what we're after.
43:44This case really haunted
43:46me, I think because it
43:48was the first time I had
43:50encountered what I thought
43:52was a true psychopath.
43:54I think there was every
43:55possibility that Kenneth
43:57Jackson, if he had not
43:59been caught, would have
44:00gone on to kill other
44:01women, and that one day
44:04he might have been
44:05labeled a serial killer.
44:06Kenneth Jackson stalked, raped,
44:13and killed 50-year-old
44:14Cook Tran, an innocent
44:16woman who'd done him no
44:17harm.
44:18He burned her body in
44:20the attempt to destroy any
44:21evidence, but he wasn't as
44:23clever as he thought, and
44:25when his DNA was found on
44:26the victim, his fate was
44:28sealed.
44:29He showed absolutely no
44:31remorse for leaving three
44:33children without a mother,
44:34proving that Kenneth
44:35Jackson is one of the
44:37world's most evil killers.
45:05who would have been
45:09seen in the right身 of the
45:10world's most evil killers.
45:11He was also a
45:12sad man who was
45:12tekst by that one of the
45:13wives and their
45:13the sons of the
45:14months in the
45:16world's most evil killers.
45:17He was also a
45:18shenanigans that
45:19in the right being
45:20in the right being
45:21either walking
45:21for men's
45:22men's
45:22demon.
45:24He was a
45:25angel who's
45:25Originally about
45:27being
45:28expected,
45:30he was
45:33the
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