March 7th 2014, the bodies of a young couple Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson are discovered behind a convenient store dumpster, and with very little clue of what happened, the police visit their fathers, who have been both furiously against their relationship. What the detectives don’t know is that Crystal's 5 year old daughter Zaniah, who was hiding in the car at the time of the murder, might have seen it all.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00This is 5-year-old Zania Jackson.
00:25A few days before this was recorded, Tanai's mother was found dead alongside her longtime
00:30girlfriend on a remote island near Houston, Texas.
00:34During the interview, the little girl claimed to have seen a stranger entering her house
00:38that morning, but detectives didn't believe her.
00:41Instead, they became convinced that the victim's own father was behind the double murder.
00:55Surprised that the detectives would consider him a suspect, the father tried to reason
00:59with them, but the lieutenant in charge of the investigation wouldn't have it.
01:04On the contrary, in about 10 seconds, he's going to snap at him.
01:31Houston, Texas, March 8, 2014.
01:35The police are at the residence of Rev. Ivan Jackson and his wife, Mary.
01:39They have dire news concerning the disappearance of their 24-year-old daughter, Crystal.
01:44From the next room, Zania, Crystal's 5-year-old daughter, can hear her grandparents crying.
01:51911, what's your emergency?
01:53I have two dead people at the back of my store by my dumpster.
01:57When they told me that my baby was dead, it hurt me.
02:04I've never been hurt as bad as I was hurt that day.
02:10Are they male or female?
02:12Could you tell?
02:13One appears to be a woman.
02:15I never dreamed that I would have to bury my own child.
02:20I couldn't do nothing but go in the house and hug my granddaughter.
02:26At the other end of the city, Brittany's aunt, Ebony McQuaid, is getting ready to go
02:30out when she notices that her phone has received an unusually high number of notifications.
02:35I remember just getting dressed, and I just happened to go to Facebook.
02:39And I had messages galore.
02:42I'm like, what's going on?
02:44Clicked on one of the messages, and he was just like, say friend, I think they found
02:48your niece and her girlfriend dead.
02:51Shocked by what she was reading, Ebony put on the news on her TV.
02:55I went to channel 13, and that was the first face I seen was her and Crystal.
03:00Murder mystery tonight on the Bolivar Peninsula.
03:03How the women were killed remains a mystery.
03:05Both were African-American and homosexual.
03:08Many believe the women were targeted because of their sexual orientation.
03:12I was just numb.
03:14And I just remember calling my brother, and I'm like, what happened?
03:17Brittany's father, James Cosby, barely had enough time to process the information before
03:22Ebony called him.
03:23A few hours before the story hit the newsstands, the police went to his house and informed
03:28James of his daughter's passing.
03:30What's going on?
03:31Are you the father of Brittany's dad?
03:33Yes, I am.
03:34Yeah.
03:35Get out of here.
03:36Please get out of here.
03:37You'll just have to see.
03:38Brittany's dad.
03:42What happened?
03:43That's what we're trying to find out.
03:45We're trying to find out.
03:46What happened?
03:47What happened?
03:48We don't understand.
03:49Right now, we want to find out who did this, OK?
03:53Who's the girl?
03:54Is Brittany real thin?
03:56That's her girlfriend.
03:57That's her girlfriend.
03:58It is Crystal.
03:59It is Crystal?
04:00Yeah.
04:02The cause of their death remained under investigation, but Brittany, James' daughter, and Crystal's
04:07girlfriend had been violently assaulted.
04:10For this reason, the police believed the crime had been motivated by hate against the women.
04:16As they began interviewing their families, they were surprised to learn that even Crystal's
04:20own father, Ivan Jackson, was against their relationship.
04:24I used to tell my daughter, I'd say, you ain't getting no damn strength because she's just
04:28experimenting on something.
04:30She don't know what she's getting into.
04:32So you never even would let Brittany come in the house?
04:34When she'd come in the house, she'd go sit right there where you're sitting.
04:37OK.
04:38I told my daughter, I'd say, look, that girl gonna be the cause of your death.
04:43As a fervent preacher in a Baptist church, his religion clashed with his daughter's identity,
04:48a fact he wasn't scared to share with police when they brought his family in for questioning.
04:53Tell us a little bit about your daughter.
04:57I love my daughter.
04:59It's hard.
05:02I didn't like her changing her sexual orientation.
05:08But it wasn't nothing I could do because she was wrong.
05:11I told Crystal that that lesbian stuff would take her out of you.
05:18I know it.
05:19I knew it.
05:20I knew it.
05:21I accepted it.
05:23But he couldn't.
05:24It brought friction between both of them.
05:28Ivan's convictions and the fact that he kept repeating Crystal's homosexuality would be
05:32the cause of her death alarmed the officers.
05:35When he realized that the police suspected him, he allowed them to question Zaniah,
05:40who had been with Brittany and Crystal on the day of their disappearance.
05:43Immediately, an officer brought the little girl into another room.
05:47Would you come sit right here for me?
05:51Would you like to color?
05:58Zaniah, what is the first thing you do when you get to school?
06:01Eat breakfast.
06:03Tell me everything that happened from that morning to the time you went to sleep.
06:07The morning when I was getting ready for school at night time, my mama was in the car me and her.
06:15My mama said, stay in the car.
06:19And I stayed in the car.
06:21So I was taking my mom's phone off.
06:23Even at such a young age, Zaniah knew something was wrong.
06:26But at only five years old, the police weren't certain she understood what actually happened that morning.
06:32This was until Zaniah started talking about an encounter she had with a potential suspect.
06:37I heard something, so I thought it was a stranger.
06:40So I just sit in bed.
06:42I just had my seatbelt on.
06:44I waited in the trees so the stranger wouldn't see me.
06:49Unsure of what to make of Zaniah's statement, the police continued to investigate Ivan.
06:54They knew something had happened the day before Brittany and Crystal's disappearance.
06:59The girls came by the Jackson residence to pick up Zaniah and show off the new car they had purchased together.
07:05But things quickly turned awry.
07:07She wanted me to come out to see her new car.
07:12Her new car.
07:14Me, being as stubborn as I am, I wouldn't even get up out of the chair.
07:19After the fight, Crystal left with Brittany and Zaniah.
07:23Her mother attempted to call her multiple times to set things right, but Crystal never answered.
07:28Later that same day, Ivan decided to take action.
07:32He was convinced something was off.
07:34He grabbed his .25 caliber handgun and headed to the Cosby's house.
07:39My husband said he was going to go to the house and see what was going on.
07:44And if Brittany did something to Crystal, he was going to do something to her.
07:48But I told him, no, leave the gun at home.
07:51Fortunately, Mary was able to talk him out of going.
07:55Ivan said that he never actually went to the Cosby residence.
07:58He never made contact with Crystal.
08:01As the days passed and the investigation staggered,
08:04the detective eventually received the girl's autopsy report,
08:07confirming that Crystal had been killed by a gunshot wound and Brittany via blood force trauma.
08:12They were still hoping Ivan was lying, but the ballistic report proved otherwise.
08:17The bullet that hit his daughter was of a higher caliber than his own gun.
08:21Finally cleared of the accusation, Ivan couldn't help but look back at the reasons
08:26Ivan couldn't help but look back at the reasons
08:28why the police were convinced he committed the crime in the first place.
08:32I carry a lot of guilt in me.
08:35Because the things I should have said to my daughter, I didn't say when I had the chance.
08:40Watching them put my baby in that vault and have to leave her at that cemetery.
08:46It was the hardest thing that ever happened to me.
08:58I took plenty of bodies to the cemetery.
09:04But I never had to leave a child at the cemetery.
09:12Sadly, both funerals were organized on the same day, pushing the couple apart, even in death.
09:18And despite not mentioning their significant others during the services,
09:22those who truly knew them knew they deeply loved one another.
09:26You can tell they loved each other.
09:28You can tell that they cared about the well-being of Crystal's daughter.
09:32She derived a lot of joy and purpose from the family she was building with Crystal and their daughter.
09:38I think Brittany really, really loved Crystal.
09:40You know, she wants to get married.
09:42You know, she wants to be with Crystal forever.
09:45With Crystal, everybody loved her.
09:48She would give you the shirt off her back.
09:50She was an amazing girl.
09:52She was, God, I miss her so much.
09:55Brittany was very outgoing.
09:58She loved family time.
10:00She loved movies.
10:01She loved pickles.
10:02She loved to laugh.
10:04The biggest question was, who did it?
10:06Because I was just like, who harmed her?
10:08You're angry, but you're hurt at the same time.
10:11So it's like, I just wanted to get to the bottom of what happened.
10:15The investigators were back at Square One now that Ivan had been cleared as a suspect.
10:19We would have a theory, and then you come across something that totally throws a monkey wrench into that.
10:25So you're starting completely over.
10:27But the detectives discovered other pieces of evidence as the case went on,
10:31including a bloody fingerprint and CCTV footage of the woman's car on the night of their disappearance.
10:37The guard stopped this vehicle.
10:39As he's talking to the driver, the driver steps out of the car.
10:42They were shocked to see that neither Brittany nor Crystal was behind the wheel.
10:46You can tell the person's height.
10:48You can tell the build.
10:49It was a male person.
10:51But the camera's so far away, you can't see a detailed face.
10:54Only one thing was sure to them.
10:56Even though Zania claimed that a stranger came into her house while she was waiting in the car,
11:01the autopsy report convinced the police otherwise.
11:04Her skull was actually broken open.
11:06She was not only hit once in the forehead, but four extra times in the back of the head.
11:12It was definitely our feeling that it was overkill.
11:14It took somebody with such great force to break her neck with that blow
11:18that we knew it had to be anger.
11:20It had to be personal.
11:22Detective Kitchens, a rookie on his first homicide case,
11:25was confident that whatever Zania saw wasn't imaginary.
11:29So he brought Brittany's dad, James Cosby,
11:32the only other person present that morning,
11:34to the sheriff's office for an interview.
11:53James seemed honest, but Kitchens was puzzled.
11:56Why did Brittany and Crystal leave without taking Zania to school that morning?
12:00The next day, now a week after the murders,
12:27James' family joined hundreds of grieving locals in downtown Houston for a statewide memorial.
12:32It was being held to honor Brittany and Crystal
12:35because there had been a lot of public grief over what had happened to them.
12:38The murder in Galveston hit close to home across Texas.
12:41Ceremonies like this one are being held in Dallas, Corpus Christi, and here in Austin.
12:46People all over Texas sympathized with James, Ebony, Ivan, Mary, and the newly orphaned Zania.
12:54Photos of Brittany Cosby and Crystal Jackson are surrounded by flowers and glowing lights.
13:05On that very same day, Kitchens and his partner visited the Cosby's house.
13:09He intended to question James some more and maybe chat with Annie Lee, Brittany's great-grandmother.
13:24Annie Lee's cousin, Cora LaDette, had been helping around the house for a few years.
13:29When Kitchens asked if she had noticed anything suspicious in the past week,
13:33she slowly walked out of the house, closed the door behind her,
13:37and asked the detectives to follow her into the carport.
13:40Sensing she had something important to share, Kitchens pulled out his recorder.
13:54Looking around the carport, Kitchens saw nothing unusual
13:58until he noticed a pile of small bricks on the concrete floor.
14:24There was what appeared to be four to five drops of blood on the ground.
14:29I immediately began to look even closer at that point,
14:32which is when I noticed two more drops of blood up near the door facing.
14:36That led me to believe that we may be standing in our crime scene.
14:43Unaware of the discovery made at his house, James Cosby was still out at the memorial,
14:48answering the local news questions and praising the detectives for their diligence.
14:54The detectives are doing what they do and keeping us informed as much as they can,
14:59but there's nothing yet.
15:01Towards the end of the vigil, Kitchens and his partner, Sergeant Kilburn,
15:05arrived and arrested James in front of everyone.
15:08They ended up picking him up at the vigil.
15:11This is not looking good for Mr. Cosby.
15:14After the arrest, Kilburn returned to the scene
15:16and forced open the garage James had been staying in.
15:19Inside, he turned on his UV light.
15:22He couldn't believe what he saw.
15:33Back at the station, Kitchens and his lieutenant were informed of the situation.
15:37They believed they now had enough evidence to confront him.
15:53...that that carpet throughout that room and furniture throughout that room
15:59is saturated with fresh blood.
16:05You've been in that room sleeping in that room
16:08with your daughter's blood on the carpet.
16:11I ain't seen no stain. I would see some stain.
16:14You have the supreme... out of it.
16:18And it's all over your room.
16:21Britney had her... brains... beat in.
16:25It wasn't long before Lieutenant Hanson's patience reached its absolute limit.
16:30He simply couldn't handle James' cold and emotionless reactions.
16:34You... explain that. You... explain it.
16:38That's your daughter's head smashed in.
16:41Thrown away like a... garbage.
16:43This went on for over five hours.
16:45During that time, forensic scientists matched
16:48the bloody fingerprint found near the dumpsters to James'.
16:51Slowly, the news tightened around the suspect.
16:54Everything points back to James Larry Cosby Jr.
16:59And you expect us to believe that James Larry Cosby Jr. don't know s***?
17:06You need to man up.
17:08Finish a sentence for me. I'm gonna start a sentence. I want you to finish it.
17:12What is it?
17:15I did not do this because...
17:20I'm not finishing that.
17:22What were you gonna tell us?
17:23I'm not done.
17:24Okay.
17:26Are we done?
17:27We're done.
17:28Stand up.
17:29Hands behind your back.
17:34James was merely charged with tampering with evidence
17:37since his fingerprints only matched those found at the dump site.
17:40If the police couldn't find more clues soon,
17:43James would only face a short sentence.
17:45Around this time, Ivan started appearing on the news
17:48talking about Crystal's passing and how Zania was dealing with that.
17:52I come home in the evening. My daughter's not there.
17:55I look at her daughter.
17:57Sometimes her daughter has nightmares,
17:59so we have her in counseling now.
18:01This was when it clicked for the detectives.
18:04Now that they had more details, Zania's story made more sense.
18:08The stranger she mentioned in her first interview
18:11was probably James Cosby,
18:13who had just moved back with his family at the time,
18:15so they asked Ivan to bring her back to the station for a second interview.
18:19This time, they focused on what she heard and saw
18:22to see if it matched what they had discovered.
18:24Did you ever hear anything from his room?
18:28Tell me everything you heard from his room.
18:30A gunshot.
18:31You heard a gunshot.
18:33Tell me how you know it was a gunshot.
18:35Because he just...
18:37In his room, he just...
18:39He took them to outside in his room.
18:43Okay, did somebody tell you that or did you see that?
18:47I see that.
18:48When she left the car to look for her mom,
18:50Zania must have walked into James' room,
18:53seen the blood, and connected the dots
18:55after she learned that Brittany and her mother had been murdered.
18:58There was blood splatter in his room.
19:01Okay, tell me where the blood splatter was in his room.
19:05On his bed.
19:07You saw it on his bed?
19:09Okay, did you see it anywhere else?
19:11On his floor.
19:13Some on his floor?
19:15He just decided to kill my mother and his daughter.
19:18Based on what Zania had told me,
19:20I hypothesize that Crystal took Zania,
19:24placed her into the car.
19:26At the same time, on the inside of the house,
19:29James Cosby and Brittany Cosby
19:31became involved in a physical altercation,
19:34at which time James Cosby snapped and beat Brittany to death.
19:38Crystal walked back into the house
19:40and was watching this take place
19:43and immediately ran out the side door
19:46to the back of the vehicle,
19:47which is where James Cosby, we believe, caught up with her,
19:50and then shot her in the head.
19:52All along, 5-year-old Zania Jackson was the key.
19:56The quiet little girl may not have yet understood
19:58the full extent of what had happened that morning,
20:01but she could place James at the scene
20:03with the weapon in hand, attacking her mother.
20:06A month later, police found Brittany and Crystal's car
20:09abandoned in a parking lot.
20:11In the blood-soaked trunk,
20:12they found a bullet encased in the luggage rack.
20:16In Texas, it isn't necessary to prove motivation for murder cases.
20:20However, through interviews with family members
20:23and people close to the Cosbys,
20:24the detectives concluded that it all started
20:26when Brittany and Crystal bought their new car together.
20:29Annie Lee Cosby had changed her will
20:32and left everything to Brittany
20:34because Brittany was already taking care of everything
20:37while her dad was not present in the residence.
20:39He had asked Annie to co-sign for a vehicle,
20:43and she refused, and then she turned around
20:46and co-signed a vehicle for Brittany and Crystal.
20:50And it starts to paint a picture of jealousy, pure jealousy.
20:56Today in court, it was a tale of two fathers.
20:58One sentenced to life behind bars,
21:01and the other choosing a life of forgiveness.
21:05Today, Jackson's father, Reverend Ivan Jackson,
21:08attended what would be the last hearing
21:10in the case of his daughter's murder.
21:12Me and my wife and my church family,
21:14we have been praying for life without a possibility of parole
21:18instead of the death penalty
21:19because killing him is not going to bring either one of them back.
21:24And his prayers were answered.
21:25Cosby was convicted of capital murder,
21:27an automatic sentence of life without parole.
21:30No matter what the situation was, they didn't deserve to die.
21:33It's been really tough, but on the same token,
21:37it has made me much stronger
21:40because I know I have a responsibility to do now
21:43and that's raise my grandbaby.
21:45It was, I cried.
21:49It's a relief.
21:58What we do for those families.
22:02After the case was closed,
22:04Ivan and Mary got full custody of Zaniah
22:07and Detective Kitchens became her godfather.
22:10Every year, they celebrate Crystal and Brittany's anniversary
22:13along with members of the Jackson family,
22:16even if it's still difficult.
22:18It's still tough.
22:19I still struggle with Crystal not here.
22:24As a matter of fact, on Friday,
22:26I went to visit Crystal's grave and Brittany's grave.
22:30Therefore, when I go to put flowers on Crystal's grave,
22:34me and my wife put flowers on Brittany's grave.
22:37I still have a hard time accepting it a little bit,
22:40I guess you could say.
22:42I'm angry.
22:43Admiringly, Zaniah, now a teenager,
22:46somehow found the strength within her to grow from the experience.
22:51How often do you think about mom?
22:53Almost every day.
22:55What comes to mind, I just think of her smile.
22:57In 2021, MTV sent journalist Dometi Pongo
23:01to interview the then 12-year-old girl.
23:03What do you think you might want to do?
23:05I want to be a lawyer.
23:06What kind of lawyer?
23:07I want to work with the family against the criminal.
23:10What made you want to do that?
23:12My mom.
23:13So you want to be able to help other families
23:15the way attorneys helped yours?
23:17Yeah.
23:18Today, she wishes that anyone facing violence and loss
23:21could see that every cloud has a silver lining,
23:24no matter what may happen.
23:26It's okay.
23:27Think about the bright side of it, you know?
23:29If your parent was killed,
23:31you are the reason that everybody can be happy
23:33because they have you.
23:35You're like the seed.
23:36Like if you cut down a tree,
23:37you're the seed that fell on the ground.
23:39So it just sprouts up and you look just like them.
23:45That's beautiful.
23:48That's beautiful.