In the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, on the evening of November 9, 2016, a horrific sequence of events unfolded, ending the life of 22-year-old Raven Veal, a woman who was nine months pregnant and eagerly awaiting the birth of her second child. The brutal attack was carried out by Jermaine Brisco, the father of her unborn baby.
The violence erupted while Veal was in her car with Brisco and her three-year-old daughter.
Brisco shot Veal in the neck and then, in a display of unimaginable cruelty, ran her over multiple times with his vehicle as she tried to escape. This all occurred in the presence of her young daughter, who was left abandoned on the side of the road after the attack. Witnesses reported hearing Veal's desperate pleas for her life, and the scene was described as harrowing, with evidence of the prolonged and violent assault stretching for nearly a block.
The investigation into Raven Veal's murder revealed a sinister motive. Prosecutors discovered that Jermaine Brisco had taken out a life insurance policy on Veal just months before her death, suggesting a calculated plan driven by financial greed. Surveillance footage placed Brisco and Veal together at the time of the crime, and Veal's own daughter identified him as the assailant.
The path to justice for Raven Veal was long and arduous, marked by legal challenges that included a hung jury in the first trial and a mistrial in the second due to juror misconduct. However, the prosecution persisted, and in November 2024, nearly eight years after the brutal crime, a jury found Jermaine Brisco guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree feticide, and attempted obstruction of justice. The verdict brought a measure of closure to a case that had deeply shocked the New Orleans community.
