In July 2024, 28 years old Arkia Berry, who also went by the name Kia, was murdered along with her boyfriend Eric Ashley Jr and son Landyn Brooks, 29 and 5 years old respectively. In the devastating triple murder case, the three of them were found inside the car, which crashed after they had been shot multiple times.
Berry’s car had multiple bullet holes and around 30 shell casings were found at the scene of the tragedy. The child was lying dead on the backseat whereas Berry was lying lifeless on the center console and her dead boyfriend was just beside her.
Law enforcement officials had used surveillance camera footage to piece together what happened and Detective Jarvelius Tolliver had presented some of his findings last week at the hearing of Jacorrian Deshawn McGregor, who was arrested as the key suspect of the murder.
On that fateful day in July 2024 at 5:07 pm, Berry’s Nissan had arrived a few moments after a lime green colored Kia Soul was seen there. Two minutes later, at 5:09 pm, Berry texted the word “Jaco,” which happens to be McGregor’s nickname. After a minute, as the Kia sped off, the crash detection system installed in the Nissan informed the police.
After searching McGregor’s phone, police found “he was having several conversations with people where they were talking about the incident that had taken place” as Tolliver said. He further added, “There were people telling him to lay low, stay out of sight, stay hidden.”
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Ashley also called a contact he had saved as Jaco on the day of his murder. He had last used his phone at 5:08pm to call the same contact. Investigators also retrieved text messages between Ashley, Berry and McGregor as they planned to meet. However, McGregor added “It didn’t say a time. I believe they had talked on the phone.”
As reported by The Sun, “The day after Berry and her loved ones were killed, a lime green Kia Soul was found engulfed in flames. Investigators found a woman who owned the Kia and she said it had been stolen days before the shooting. Video footage showed the Kia being followed by a black Mercedes several times during the day of the shooting.”
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While McGregor was arrested on suspicion of killing Berry, Ashley, and Landyn, John Robbins, his lawyer, defended him in court saying that the case against him was “somewhat suspect and based upon circumstantial evidence.” While there was a lack of physical evidence tying McGregor to the shooting, the judge in the case ultimately considered McGregor to be guilty enough to be indicted and he now remains in prison without bond.
