Latest / Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained / HE BURIED HER IN HIS MOTHER'S YARD The Murder Of Sherri Jackson True Crime Documentary

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HE BURIED HER IN HIS MOTHER'S YARD The Murder Of Sherri Jackson True Crime Documentary · Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: On a cold, quiet night in December 2006, inside a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: dark apartment in Greensboro, North Carolina, police officers stepped across
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a threshold into absolute silence. The air inside was thick
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and cold. It smelled heavily of harsh bleach mixed with
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the faint, sickening scent of copper and decay. When officers
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: clicked on their flashlights, the beams of light cut through
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: the dark. What they saw turned their stomachs. Furniture was
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: flipped upside down. Living room chairs were thrown to the side.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: On the light-colored walls, dark red streaks were smeared across
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the plaster. In the bathroom, the floor was slick, covered
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: in a slimy layer of chemical cleaner. When forensic investigators
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: sprayed a clear chemical called luminol across the bathroom tiles,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the dark room suddenly glowed with a bright, terrifying blue
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: light Blood was everywhere. It was on the walls, the sink,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the floor, and the bathtub. Someone had suffered a horrific,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: violent attack in that room. Someone had tried desperately to
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: wash the evidence away. But there was one major problem.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Sherry Jackson, the 27-year-old woman who lived in that apartment,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. Her car sat outside in
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the parking lot. Her phone was ringing endlessly on a counter.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: And the man who claimed to love her was standing
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: outside in the hallway, sweating, breathing fast, and holding a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: secret that would take police nearly two years to uncover.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: What really happened inside that bathroom? And where was Sherry?
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Today, we're visiting the case of Sherry Jackson. If you
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: believe that victims of violent crime should never be forgotten,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and if you want to help us bring these heartbreaking
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: stories into the light... Take a second right now to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: click that subscribe button. When you subscribe, hit the notification
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: bell and leave a comment below. You help ensure that
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: stories like Sherry's are heard by millions. Join our community
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: today and let's make sure justice is always sought for
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: those who can no longer speak for themselves. To understand
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: how a young woman's life ended in such a cruel
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and violent way, we have to go back to where
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: her journey began. Sherry Jackson was born on April 1, 1980,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: in Burke County, North Carolina. She grew up in the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: beautiful town of Asheville, raised by her loving parents, MacArthur
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and Clara Jackson. From the time she was a little girl,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Sherry lit up every room she entered. Her mother, Clara,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: described her as a bright, generous child who would do
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: anything to make another person smile.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: She had a heart for people.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: She was the kind of friend who always listened, and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: always put others first. In high school, Sherry excelled at
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: everything she touched. She was an honor roll student, a cheerleader,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and was even crowned homecoming queen. But Sherry had big dreams.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Asheville was a wonderful place to grow up. But she
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: wanted to build a life of her own in a
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: bigger city. After graduating high school, Sherry packed her bags
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: and moved two hours away to Greensboro, NC, She enrolled
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, eager to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: start her future. While in Greensboro, Sherry discovered a deep
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: passion for helping people who couldn't help themselves. She decided
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to put her college degree on hold to accept a
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: full-time position as a family and healthcare coordinator at Shipman
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Family Care. In this role, Sherry spent her days taking
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: care of adults with physical and mental disabilities.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: She loved her work.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: She brought joy and warmth to her patients every single day.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: She had a job she loved, a great group of friends,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and a bright future lying ahead of her. Then she
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: met a local club promoter named DeCarlo Bennett. DeCarlo was charming, outgoing,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and well-known in the Greensboro nightlife scene. When he and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Sherry met at a party, the chemistry was instant. They
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: began dating, and at first, everything seemed picture-perfect. DeCarlo showered
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: her with attention, and Sherry thought she had found someone special.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But behind closed doors, a dark reality was taking shape.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: As the months went on, DeCarlo's charming mask began to slip.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: The sweet, attentive boyfriend slowly transformed into a deeply possessive,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: angry man. He began checking her phone. He demanded to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: know where she was every minute of the day. The
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: verbal put-downs turned into explosive arguments. Sherry was a strong,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: independent woman, but like so many victims of domestic abuse,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: she tried to keep the pain hidden. She put on
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a brave face for her co-workers, her friends, and her family.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: She smiled at work, took care of her patients, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: pretended everything was fine. By late 2006, Sherry realized she
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: couldn't live like this anymore. She knew she had to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: get away from DeCarlo Bennett. She began making quiet plans
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to end the relationship once and for all, determined to
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: start fresh in the new year. She had no idea
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: that trying to leave would put a target on her back. Sunday,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: November 26, 2006, was supposed to be a fun night out.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Sherry and her co-workers had planned to go to a
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: party together. Sherry loved going out, dressing up, and dancing
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: with her friends. She spoke with her friends earlier that day,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: laughing and talking about how excited she was for the evening,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: night fell over Greensboro. The party started, and music filled
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the room. Sherry's friends stood near the entrance, watching the door,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: waiting for her bright smile to walk through. Minutes turned
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: into hours. The party ended. Sherry Jackson never arrived. She
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: never called. She never texted. Her friends tried calling her
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: mobile phone, but it rang until it went straight to voicemail.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Anxiety began to settle into their chests. Sherry was dependable.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: If her plans changed, she always let people know. To
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: completely disappear without a word was totally out of character.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Little did her friends know, while they were dialing her
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: phone that Sunday night, a deadly sequence of events had
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: already taken place inside Sherry's apartment.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: And time was running out.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Monday morning arrived in Greensboro, but there was no sign
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: of Sherry. When her shift started at Shipman Family Care,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: her desk sat empty. Her supervisor and co-workers exchanged worried looks.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Sherry had worked there for years, and she had never
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: missed a day of work without calling in beforehand.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Not once.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Calls to her mobile phone continued to go straight to voicemail.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: By Tuesday, panic among her co-workers reached a breaking point.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Then came Friday, payday.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: In her years working at Shipman Family Care, Sherry had
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: never missed picking up her paycheck. When her physical check
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: sat unclaimed on the front desk at the end of
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the day, her co-workers knew with absolute certainty that something
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: terrible had happened to her.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: They couldn't wait any longer.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Two of her closest co-workers drove directly to her apartment
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: complex on Meadowood Drive. When they pulled into the parking lot,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the first thing they saw was Sherry's car. It was
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: parked in its usual spot, locked and undisturbed. If her
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: car was there, Sherry had to be inside. They walked
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: up the stairs, stood outside her front door, and knocked loudly.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Silence. They knocked again, calling out her name into the
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: quiet hallway. No answer.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Her friends immediately pulled out their phones and dialed the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Greensboro Police Department. They reported Sherry Jackson missing. When police
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: officers received the call... they recognized the red flags instantly.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: A dependable 27-year-old woman missing for days, her phone turning off,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: her paycheck sitting unclaimed, and her car parked outside her
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: apartment building with no answer at the door. Detectives knew
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: they needed to get inside that apartment right away. On
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: December 3rd, 2006, officers secured permission to enter Sherry's home.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: When the key turned in the lock and the door
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: swung open, detectives stepped into a nightmare. The living room
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: was in complete disarray. Chairs were knocked over, furniture was
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: shoved out of place, pointing to a violent physical struggle.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Detectives walked down the short hallway toward the bathroom.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: The door was open.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: When they stepped inside, the smell of heavy household cleaners
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: hit their noses. The floor felt strangely slippery under their boots.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: as if someone had scrubbed the tiles with bleach just
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: hours before. Police called in a forensic unit to process
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the room. Investigators closed the blinds, turned off the overhead lights,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: and sprayed the bathroom surfaces with luminol, a special liquid
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: that glows blue when it touches hidden traces of blood,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: even if the blood has been washed away. The second
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the chemical mist hit the air, the dark bathroom lit
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: up like a neon sign. bright blue light glowed across
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the floor tiles, smeared up the side of the bathtub,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and covered the lower walls.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Blood had been everywhere in that room.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Someone had launched a brutal attack in that small space
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and then spent time trying to scrub the evidence away.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: While forensic techs pulled DNA samples from the apartment, a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: man suddenly walked through the front door. It was DeCarlo Bennett,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Sherry's ex-boyfriend. Detectives turned to look at him. DeCarlo appeared
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: visibly shaken, sweating, and pacing back and forth near the entryway.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: He acted frantic and nervous, asking officers what was going on.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Detectives pulled him aside to ask basic questions. DiCarlo claimed
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: he hadn't spoken to Sherry since Sunday, November 26th, the
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: night she disappeared. He told officers that he had gone
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: over to her apartment that Sunday evening. He claimed Sherry
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: cooked him dinner before getting ready for the party she
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: planned to attend with her co-workers. But then, DiCarlo dropped
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: a detail that made detectives pay close attention. He admitted
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that while Sherry was getting dressed, they got into a
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: heated argument. DiCarlo claimed he didn't like the outfit she
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: was wearing. He thought her clothes were too revealing and
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: demanded that she change before going out. He told police
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: that after the argument, he got angry and drove away,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: leaving Sherry alone in her apartment to go to the party.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Then DiCarlo revealed a massive piece of information that police
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: did not know. he told officers that Sherry was three
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: months pregnant with his child. He claimed he was thrilled
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: about the news, looking forward to becoming a father, and
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: had no reason to ever harm her. Detectives listened calmly,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: taking notes. But something in DeCarlo's story felt completely off.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: While speaking with Sherry's family, detectives learned about another strange detail.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: A few weeks before her disappearance, Sherry had called her father,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: MacArthur Jackson, late at night. She told her dad in
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: a frightened voice that a man was inside her apartment
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and refused to leave. Her father actually spoke to the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: man on the phone, warning him to leave his daughter alone.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Sherry never revealed the man's name to her father. Was
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it to Carlo Bennett? Or was there another man in
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: her life who wanted to hurt her? Detectives also discovered
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: that Sherry had recently reconnected with an old ex-boyfriend named Reggie.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Reggie's family owned Shipman Family Care, where Sherry worked. Reggie
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: told police that he and Sherry had remained close friends
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: and were actually supposed to go to the party together
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: on November 26.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: When Sherry didn't show up, Reggie drove to her apartment
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: and knocked on her door. But no one answered.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Detectives checked Reggie's alibi, verified his whereabouts with witnesses, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: quickly ruled him out as a suspect.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: That left DeCarlo Bennett.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: detectives decided to pull Sherry's phone records to see who
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: she spoke to right before she vanished. And when those
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: phone bills arrived on the lead detective's desk, they uncovered
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: a detail that turned the entire investigation upside down. When
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: detectives opened Sherry Jackson's official phone records, they began mapping
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: out her final hours on Sunday, November 26th. The last
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: outgoing call from her phone was made to a man
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: named Andrej. Detectives tracked Andre down and brought him in
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: for an interview. Andre told investigators that he knew Sherry
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: through DeCarlo Bennett. But then he dropped a bomb on
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the investigation. Andre confessed that he had witnessed DeCarlo's possessive
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and abusive behavior toward Sherry firsthand. He explained that Sherry
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: had been opening up to him in secret, telling him
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: how terrified she was of DeCarlo. She was desperately trying
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to break off the relationship, but DeCarlo refused to let
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: her go. With this new information, detectives decided to pull
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo Bennett's phone records as well. They expected to see
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: dozens of frantic calls and texts from a worried father-to-be
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: trying to reach his missing pregnant girlfriend. But when the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: records arrived, detectives stared at the paper in complete disbelief.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: After the night of November 26th, DeCarlo Bennett had never
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: tried calling Sherry again.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Not once.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: He had stood in front of officers at her apartment
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: claiming he was frantic with worry and had been trying
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to contact her non-stop for days. Yet his phone records
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: proved he was lying. He hadn't dialed her number a
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: single time after she vanished. Why would a man who
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: claimed to be desperately searching for his pregnant girlfriend suddenly
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: stop calling her phone the exact night she disappeared? There
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: was only one logical answer. DiCarlo didn't call her because
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: he already knew she was dead. Detectives dug deeper into
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: police database records surrounding Sherry's apartment on Meadowood Drive. They
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: discovered that local police had been called to her home
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: just weeks earlier after a violent domestic argument between Sherry
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and DiCarlo. When officers arrived at the scene during that
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: previous incident, they noted visible marks and scratches on Sherry's body.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: At the time, Sherry had tried to cover for DiCarlo.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: downplaying the fight out of fear, so no charges were filed. Now,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: every single piece of circumstantial evidence pointed directly at DeCarlo Bennett.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Detectives called DeCarlo back into the station for a second
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: formal interrogation. Sitting in the small interview room, DeCarlo stuck
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to his original story. He repeated that he went to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: her apartment on November 26th, cooked dinner, argued with her
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: over her clothing, and left. As the interview came to
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: a close, detectives made a critical move. They asked DiCarlo
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: if he would give them permission to search his vehicle
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: parked outside. DiCarlo hesitated for a fraction of a second,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: but then nodded and handed over his keys. He believed
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: he had cleaned his car well enough to hide his secret.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: He was dead wrong.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Investigators walked out to the parking lot and unlocked DiCarlo's car.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: The moment they opened the doors, forensic.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Technicians spotted dark, suspicious stains smeared across the interior fabric.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: They immediately swabbed the stains for DNA testing. Then an
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: investigator walked around to the back of the vehicle and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: popped the trunk open. The moment the trunk lid lifted,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a heavy, nauseating wave of air hit the investigators in
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the face. It was the undeniable, sickening smell of human decomposition.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: The smell was so overpowering that officers had to step
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: back for a moment to catch their breath. Someone, or something,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: that had been decaying had been carried inside that trunk
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: for days. Detectives immediately confronted DiCarlo about the dark stains
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and the terrible smell in his car.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: DiCarlo didn't flinch.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: He produced an answer instantly, claiming the blood in his
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: car was from a minor accident. He told officers that
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: while Sherry was cooking him dinner on November 26th, she
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: accidentally cut her finger with a kitchen knife. He claimed
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: he ran out to his car to grab a rag
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: to stop the bleeding, and that's how her blood got
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: inside his vehicle.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: It was a ridiculous, unbelievable story.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: A simple cut on a finger does not fill a
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: car with the smell of a decaying human body. Detectives
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: knew in their hearts that DiCarlo had murdered Sherry inside
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: her bathroom, wrapped her body, dragged her out to his car,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and shoved her into the trunk. But as much as
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: they wanted to slap handcuffs on him right then and there,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: they faced a devastating legal reality. They did not have
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the DNA test results back yet to prove the blood
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: belonged to Sherry. And worse, they still had not found
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: her body. Without physical proof or a body, prosecutors warned
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: that an arrest would not hold up in court. Detectives
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: swabbed DeCarlo's cheek for a DNA sample, let him walk
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: out of the police station, and watched him drive away.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: While they waited for the state crime lab to process
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the blood samples, police put a secret surveillance team on
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo's tail. They hoped he would panic, lead them to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: where he had hidden Sherry's body, and reveal his secret.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo immediately fled Greensboro, driving fast toward Durham, North Carolina,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: trying to put distance between himself and his crime. A
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: few agonizing days later, the state crime lab called the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: lead detective with emergency news. The DNA results from the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: blood found inside DeCarlo's car had come back. The lab
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: confirmed that the blood belonged to Sherry Jackson, and it
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: was mixed directly with blood belonging to DeCarlo Bennett. During
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: his brutal attack on Sherry inside her bathroom, DeCarlo had
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: cut himself, leaving his own blood mixed with hers inside
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: his vehicle. On December 14th, In 2006, police moved in.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Officers surrounded DeCarlo Bennett in Wake Forest, North Carolina, threw
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: him against the ground, and placed him under arrest for
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the first-degree murder of Sherry Jackson. The killer was finally
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: in chains. But as the prison doors slammed shut behind him,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: a dark, agonizing mystery remained.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: DeCarlo refused to talk.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: He sat in his jail cell in complete silence, keeping
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the location of Sherry's body a secret, leaving her family
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: trapped in an unending nightmare that would drag on for
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: nearly two long years. Months turned into seasons, and seasons
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: turned into years, but the agonizing silence from DeCarlo Bennett
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: remained unbroken.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: For Sherry's parents.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: MacArthur and Clara Jackson, every single morning brought a crushing
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: weight of grief. They spent their days staring at the phone,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: waiting for news that never came. Their vibrant, loving daughter
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: was gone, but without her body, they could not lay
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: her to rest.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: They could not hold a funeral. They were stuck in
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: a dark, endless limbo.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, inside the Guilford County Jail, DeCarlo Bennett sat silently
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: in his cell. He hired an experienced defense team and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: refused to answer a single question from homicide detectives. He
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: knew that without a body, prosecuting a murder case was
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: a massive uphill battle for the state. In the American
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: legal system, no-body murder trials are notoriously difficult to win.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Defense attorneys can argue that the alleged victim simply ran away.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: or that someone else was responsible. Even though investigators possessed
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the blood trail, the luminol findings from the bathroom, and
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the DNA inside the car, prosecutors worried that a clever
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: defense lawyer could plant reasonable doubt in the minds of
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: a jury. Detectives refused to sit idle. They launched massive
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: search operations across Greensboro and surrounding counties. Search crews lined
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: up shoulder to shoulder, pushing through dense pine forests and
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: overgrown brush. Dive teams plunged into freezing lakes and murky riverbanks.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Cadaver dogs picked through abandoned buildings, landfills, and remote rural roads.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Search helicopters swept overhead, using thermal imaging technology to scan
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the terrain. Month after month, every single search came up empty.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: By mid-2008, nearly 19 long months had passed since Sherry
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: vanished on that cold Sunday in November 2006. The investigation
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: had hit a wall. Detectives had exhausted every lead, checked
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: every tip, and searched every inch of public land they
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: could think of. The case was slowly grinding to a
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: terrifying halt. Then, in June 2008, a sudden and unexpected
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: breakthrough occurred. The Guilford County District Attorney received an urgent
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: phone call from DeCarlo Bennett's defense attorney. After spending a
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: year and a half behind bars watching the prosecution assemble
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: their overwhelming stack of circumstantial evidence, DiCarlo was finally getting nervous.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: He wanted to make a deal. The offer was clear.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: DiCarlo would draw a precise map showing detectives exactly where
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: he had buried Sherry Jackson's body. But in exchange, he
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: demanded that his first-degree murder charge, which carried a sentence
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of life in prison without parole or even the death penalty...
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: be reduced to second-degree murder. The district attorney faced a
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: heavy moral dilemma. Accepting a plea deal meant giving a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: violent killer a significantly lighter prison sentence. Rejecting it meant
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: risking a trial where he might walk free, leaving Sherry's
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: body lost forever in the wilderness. The prosecutor did not
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: make the decision alone. He picked up the phone and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: called MacArthur and Clara Jackson. he laid out the harsh
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: reality of the legal system and asked for their permission.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Sherry's parents endured an unimaginable emotional battle. They wanted full
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: justice for their daughter, but more than anything else in
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the world, they wanted to bring their child home. They
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: wanted to give her a dignity-filled, proper Christian burial. With
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: heavy hearts and tears streaming down their faces, MacArthur and
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Clara agreed to the plea deal. In late June 2008,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: detectives walked into a private room with DiCarlo Bennett.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: True to his word, DiCarlo pulled out a piece of
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: paper and a pen.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: He began sketching a map, marking roads, landmarks, and trees
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: with cold, calculated precision. He pointed to a specific spot
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: on the drawing and revealed his secret. On the night
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: he murdered Sherry, after loading her body into his trunk,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: he drove to a residential neighborhood called Gramercy Park in Greensboro.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: It was the neighborhood where his own mother used to live.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: He drove to the house, pulled Sherry's body out of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the trunk, carried her into the private backyard, and buried
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: her deep beneath the soil. Detectives immediately mobilized. A convoy
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: of police cruisers, forensic vehicles, and heavy excavation equipment rushed
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to the address in Gramercy Park.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: When officers pulled up to the house.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: they discovered that DiCarlo's mother no longer lived there. A
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: new family had purchased the home months earlier. The current
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: homeowners stood on their front porch in absolute shock as
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: police explained that their peaceful suburban backyard was actually a
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: crime scene holding a missing woman's remains. Investigators sealed off
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the backyard, set up floodlights, and brought out shovels and
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: soil sifters. For 13 straight hours, under the scorching summer
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: sun and into the humid night, forensic crews dug through
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the dirt. They dug trenches, sifted through piles of mud,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and carefully overturned every square inch of the yard. By midnight,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the team was exhausted, dirty, and utterly defeated. They had
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: found nothing. The ground was empty. Frustration and anger boiled
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: over among the search team. Detectives began to suspect that
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo Bennett was playing one final cruel mind game with
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Sherry's family, leading them on a wild goose chase just to.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Torment them from behind bars.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Detectives stormed back to the jail, slammed the drawn map
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: onto the table in front of DeCarlo, and demanded answers.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo looked at the map, shook his head, and insisted
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: he was telling the truth. He claimed that after almost
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: two years, the backyard looked different than he remembered, and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: he couldn't pinpoint the spot on paper. He looked at
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the lead detective and made a chilling request. Take me
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: there in person, put me in the yard, and I
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: will show you where she is. On June 26, 2008,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: a heavy police convoy pulled into the quiet residential neighborhood
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: of Gramercy Park for the second time. This time, the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: back door of a marked police cruiser opened, and DeCarlo
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Bennett stepped out. He was dressed in a bright orange
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: jail jumpsuit, his wrists and ankles bound in heavy metal chains.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: His iron shackles clinked with every step he took across
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the driveway. Dozens of officers, forensic techs, and state investigators
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: watched him in complete silence.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: DeCarlo walked slowly into the backyard... looking.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Around at the grass, the trees, and the property line.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: He shuffled toward a quiet spot near the back corner
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: of the yard. He stopped, looked down at the grass
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: beneath his boots, and pointed his chained finger.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Directly at the ground. She's right here, he said quietly.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Forensic technicians immediately marked the spot and brought out their tools.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: They didn't use heavy machinery this time. They dropped to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: their knees with hand trowels and brushes, carefully removing layer
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: after layer of dark soil. An hour and a half
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: passed in tense, breathless quiet. Then, deep beneath the surface,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: a tool struck something solid. The technicians gently brushed away.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: The remaining dirt.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: There, hidden beneath the earth for 578 agonizing days, lay
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the remains of 27-year-old Sherry Jackson. The search was finally over.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Sherry had been found. Her remains were carefully wrapped, lifted
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: from the ground, and transported under police escort to the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: office of the chief medical examiner. Pathologists faced the difficult
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: task of examining her remains to determine the exact cause
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of death. When the medical examiner released the official autopsy report,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the brutal details confirmed the absolute horror of her final moments.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Sherry had suffered extensive, violent physical trauma before her death.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: The bones in her face and head showed clear signs
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of heavy blunt force beatings. But the ultimate cause of
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: death was ruled as manual strangulation. DeCarlo Bennett had beaten
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: her inside her bathroom, wrapped his hands around her neck,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: and choked the life out of her while she fought
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: desperately for breath. Pathologists also noted that because Sherry was
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: three months.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Pregnant at the time of her murder.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: DeCarlo had effectively taken two lives in a single night
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: of domestic rage. With her body recovered and the medical
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: examiner's report finalized, the legal system moved quickly to finalize
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: the plea agreement. In late 2008, DeCarlo Bennett was brought
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: into a Guilford County courtroom for his formal sentencing hearing.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Sherry's family sat together in the front row. Her mother,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Clara Jackson, and her father, MacArthur Jackson, held hands tightly,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: their faces lined with deep pain but also immense strength.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: They watched as the man who had stolen their daughter's
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: future sat at the defense table in handcuffs. Because the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: district attorney had agreed to the plea deal to retrieve
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Sherry's body, DiCarlo formally entered a plea of guilty to
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: second-degree murder. The judge looked down from the bench and
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: handed down the maximum sentence allowed under North Carolina law
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: for that specific charge.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Thirteen years in prison. To Sherry's family, friends.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: And the broader community, the sentence felt like a devastating
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: punch to the gut. Thirteen years for taking the lives
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: of a vibrant young woman and her unborn child felt
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: shockingly light. But it was the legal price the justice
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: system had to pay to bring Sherry home from that
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: dark backyard. For the next decade, DeCarlo Bennett sat inside
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: a state penitentiary, but the calendar kept moving forward. In
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: January 2021, after serving just 12 years and four months
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: of his sentence, DeCarlo Bennett completed his required time and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: was officially released from prison. Today, he walks the streets
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: as a free man. Sherry Jackson, however, never got to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: celebrate her 30th birthday. She never got to raise her child,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: return to college, and or continue her passionate work helping
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: adults with disabilities. Her life was stolen at just 27
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: years old simply because she chose.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: To walk away from an abusive man.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: While DiCarlo walked out of prison, Sherry's memory refused to fade.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: In the painful wake of her murder, Sherry's close friends,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: loved ones, and community advocates formed a non-profit organization in
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: her name dedicated to domestic violence awareness and prevention. They
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: work tirelessly to educate young women on the early warning
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: signs of dangerous relationship dynamics. Signs like extreme jealousy, isolation,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: controlling behavior over clothing, and rapid mood swings. Her story
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: stands as a crucial, urgent warning. Leaving an abusive relationship
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: is often the most dangerous moment in a victim's life.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Studies show that a victim's risk of severe violence or
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: homicide is increases exponentially during the exact window when they
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: attempt to break off a relationship and leave in an abuser.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Sherry Jackson was a bright, generous, loving woman who did
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong. She simply loved a man who turned out
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to be a monster. While her killer walks free, her
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: legacy lives on through her family's resilience and the lives
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: saved by the awareness raised in her name. Sherry Jackson's
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: story exposes the tragic flaws within domestic violence safety nets
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: and the painful legal compromises often made in the search
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: for answers. How can communities better support victims during the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: high-risk window when they choose to leave an abusive partner?
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Share your thoughts, honor Sherry's memory, and join the discussion
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: in the comments below.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: May Sherry Jackson rest in peace.