On a late Monday evening in the spring of 2017, Jacqueline Dicks, a 41-year-old female, was walking the final stretch home after finishing her shift as an MTA conductor. Still dressed in her uniform, she was just a block from her East New York, Brooklyn, residence on Elton Street when her life was abruptly ended. At approximately 11:40 p.m. on May 1st, she was fatally struck by a single gunshot to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency crews who responded to a 911 call.
A mother of six children, her sudden death sent a wave of shock and grief through her family and the community.
The initial account of the incident came from her boyfriend, 44-year-old Zire King, who was with her that night. He told investigators that they were walking together when he went to a store, and he then witnessed three men run up to Dicks, shoot her, and flee the scene. This narrative, however, quickly unraveled as detectives reviewed surveillance footage from the area. The video evidence contradicted King's statement, showing him speaking with Dicks just moments before she was killed. Following the shooting, cameras captured him walking back to his car and placing her bag, which contained her phone, inside the vehicle's trunk.
This discovery immediately shifted the focus of the investigation, and King became the primary suspect. A search warrant was executed on his car, where police found a. 40 caliber handgun, which they believed to be the weapon used in the killing. Family members described King as a jealous partner, suggesting a domestic motive for the tragic event. The New York City Police Department publicly identified King as a person of interest and sought the public's help in locating him for his role in the murder of Jacqueline Dicks.
Before he could be apprehended and formally charged with the murder, the manhunt for Zire King came to a somber end. A few days after the shooting, on Friday, May 5, 2017, law enforcement officials discovered King's body in New Jersey. His death concluded the search for the sole suspect in the murder of Jacqueline Dicks, leaving a grieving family with unanswered questions and the tragic loss of a mother and beloved community member.
