
DATE: Friday, September 19, 1997            TAG: 9709190849

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  101 lines

JACKSON CASE SHIFTS TO PORTSMOUTH

The murder charge brought against Elton Jackson in May has now shifted to Portsmouth based on new evidence that the killing apparently occurred in Jackson's Portsmouth home.

Jackson, 41, is accused in the July 1996 strangulation death of Andrew ``Andre'' Smith - a killing that bears striking similarities to the deaths of as many as 11 other men, thought to be the victims of a serial killer who has stalked Hampton Roads for nearly a decade.

Smith was found nude and strangled on the shoulder of Yadkin Road, a dead-end street in Deep Creek near Interstate 64 and George Washington Highway. Other victims believed to have been killed by a serial killer were found in similar rural settings. Almost all were nude; many had been strangled.

Police have not linked Jackson to the serial killings but have not ruled him out as a suspect.

In a brief hearing Thursday in Chesapeake Circuit Court, prosecutor Nancy Parr told the judge that Chesapeake no longer has jurisdiction to try the case based on new scientific test results. She said she would not pursue the charge.

DNA test results recently came back and were reviewed by the medical examiner's office last week with the finding that Smith died in Portsmouth, authorities said.

Those results had not been made a part of the court file on Thursday and were not publicly available.

Among the items taken in a police search of Jackson's Portsmouth home and tested were a mattress and bedding.

According to a transcript of a May 6 police interrogation, Detective Cecil Whitehurst told Jackson about earlier DNA test results, which showed that Jackson's DNA profile matched swabs from Andre Smith's body.

Later in that interview, Whitehurst said: ``But the test that we're running with the victim. Okay? I'm talking about blood. Okay, now how'd Andre . . . How . . . Why was he bleeding when he left your house?''

Jackson answered: ``I don't know. I don't. He was bleeding?''

``Well there's blood on your bed. And he's bleeding. . . There's blood on his arm. See that picture right there?''

``Uh-huh,'' Jackson said.

``That's how you left him. You left him on the side of the ditch just like that,'' Whitehurst said. Jackson immediately denied it, according to the transcript.

Jackson has admitted to having consensual sex with Andre Smith, according to his lawyer, Randolph D. Stowe. But Jackson denied any role in Smith's death and said he is not the serial killer who has killed men and dumped their bodies on remote roadsides since 1987.

Up to this point in the case, prosecutors had relied on a statute that allowed prosecution where a murder victim's body was found if it could not be determined where the death occurred.

A Portsmouth grand jury indicted Jackson on the murder charge on Wednesday and the pending charge was dropped in Chesapeake on Thursday morning to eliminate any gap in prosecution. That timing avoided any possibility that Jackson would be released from jail for even a short period as the case shifted between the two cities.

Jackson was transferred to the Portsmouth Jail on Thursday afternoon.

``We appreciated the way Portsmouth has helped out on this,'' Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Willis said in a statement.

Parr is expected to be appointed as a special prosecutor to assist Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Massie, who will handle the case for Portsmouth.

Stowe, who had been appointed by a Chesapeake judge, said he will not be handling Jackson's case any longer but will help whoever is named as Jackson's new lawyer. No new lawyer has been appointed, and an arraignment date has not been set, Portsmouth court officials said Thursday.

``I'll give them the benefit of everything I've been able to learn so far,'' Stowe said. ``They won't have to reinvent the wheel.''

News of the change in jurisdiction came as a surprise to Stowe and his client. Shortly after the hearing, Stowe said Jackson was confused by the latest court developments.

``He's stunned,'' Stowe said. ``He doesn't understand it. I haven't had a chance to explain it to him yet.''

The new developments in the case changed what was slated to occur in court on Thursday.

Stowe was expected to renew his request to move the trial out of Hampton Roads because of publicity. Also, the judge was to have ruled on whether to allow at trial the testimony of a prosecution witness who testified that Jackson paid him for sex in December 1996. The witness said Jackson tied him up, tried to slip a strap around his neck and then came at him with a pillow.

Prosecutors say they are ready to go ahead with Jackson's trial as scheduled on Oct. 28, but it is unclear whether any defense lawyer newly appointed to the case would be able to proceed so quickly. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic with color photos

WHAT HAPPENED

The murder case against Elton Jackson, charged with a July 1996

strangulation, is shifting from Chesapeake to Portsmouth because DNA

tests now suggest the killing happened there.

THE SLAYING

Jackson is charged with killing Andre Smith, whose body was found

in Deep Creek, left. The killing bears similarities to the deaths of

11 other men.

WHAT'S NEXT

Jackson was transferred to the Portsmouth Jail on Thursday.

Randolph Stowe, Jackson's lawyer, will no longer handle the case. A

new lawyer and prosecutor will be appointed in Portsmouth.