Justin Jackson and Samantha Guinther (Eastpointe (Mich.) Police Dept.)
A 26-year-old man in Michigan was arrested last week for allegedly admitting to killing his own mother in “horrendous” fashion, leaving her body in a storm drain because she had contacted authorities regarding the safety of his children. Justin Jackson was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, homicide, tampering with evidence, concealing the death of an individual, and lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation in the slaying of Samantha Guinther, authorities announced.
According to interim Eastpointe Police Department Chief Corey Haines, the 47-year-old Guinther was last seen alive on or about June 18 and was reported missing by her daughter in September. Haines said that Guinther’s daughter did not immediately report her mother missing because Guinther lived a “transient lifestyle” and was often unhoused, regularly going long periods of time without answering her phone. However, the daughter told police that not hearing from Guinther for several months was “way too long,” Haines said during a Friday news conference broadcast by Detroit Fox affiliate WJBK.
Following a “really extensive investigation” utilizing all of the department’s resources, the evidence gathered led detectives to change their focus from a missing persons case to a possible homicide case. On Oct. 25, local police officers, with the assistance of the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, executed a search warrant at Guinther’s last known address in Erin Park, which is about 10 miles northeast of Detroit. Jackson and another person who was also at the home were both taken into custody. The other person was subsequently released without charges.
Once in custody, police say Jackson admitted to killing his mother, whose body was discovered in a storm drain near just west of the address at which Jackson was arrested.
“Eastpointe detectives had very little information at the onset, but were able to put all the pieces of this investigation together and locate Ms. Guinther and take the person responsible for this heinous crime safely into our custody,” Chief Haines said.
During his arraignment on Friday morning, Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Rebecca Kelley similarly referred to Guinther’s murder as “horrendous,” explaining that Jackson was upset about Guinther contacting Macomb County Child Protective Services regarding the safety of Jackson’s children.
“This individual (Jackson) punched and then stabbed and then — without going into all the details — did horrendous things to this person (Guinther), allegedly for contacting and being concerned about his children and contacting protective services,” Kelly said, according to WJBK.
Asked why authorities kept using adjectives such as “heinous” and “horrendous,” Lt. Alexander Holish, who leads Eastpointe Police’s detective bureau, appeared hesitant to respond before saying that “several weapons were used to accomplish this horrendous crime.”
“The simple fact that a son murdered his own mother is terrible,” Holish added.
Guinther’s daughter started a GoFundMe page to raise money for her mother’s funeral and cremation in which she further stated that her mother was “brutally killed and hid” from the family since June.
“She just dropped all contact on June 18 and now we know why,” Guinther’s daughter wrote. “This is very heartbreaking and we don’t know what we are going to do.”
The page had raised $750 as of Monday morning.
Jackson pleaded not guilty to all of the aforementioned charges and is currently being held on $10 million bond, jail records show. He is scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary exam hearing on Nov. 15.
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