In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 13, 2016, the life of 21-year-old Jacqueline Draggs was tragically cut short on the east side of Detroit. An African American female, Jacqueline was found deceased in the backyard of a vacant home in the 20000 block of Barlow Street. She had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The discovery was made by police officers who were responding to a 911 call from neighbors who reported hearing gunshots and a woman's screams, followed by a final, single
shot before an unnerving silence fell over the neighborhood.
The night before her body was discovered, Jacqueline was at home with her family. She had plans to pick up her father from the Greyhound bus station that evening but never arrived. Her family grew concerned when she did not return home that night. Their worry turned to dread the following morning as they began making calls, hoping for any news of her whereabouts. While in the process of filing a missing person's report, the family was asked to go to the county morgue to identify a Jane Doe who had been found. It was there that their worst fears were realized; the unidentified woman was Jacqueline.
In the wake of her death, those who knew Jacqueline described her as a vibrant and goal-oriented young woman who was full of life. She was remembered as a loving, caring, and giving person. A coworker recalled her as someone who would be deeply missed. Her passion for helping others was evident in her career as a medical assistant and her advocacy for healthcare, which included participating in numerous breast cancer and leukemia awareness walks. Her family, devastated by their loss, pleaded with the public for any information that could lead to the person or persons responsible for her death.
Despite the passage of time and a cash reward offered by Crime Stoppers for information leading to an arrest and conviction, Jacqueline Draggs's murder remains unsolved. At the time of the initial investigation, police had very few clues to work with. No suspects have ever been publicly named, and no arrests have been made in connection with her homicide. Her case is now considered a cold case, a painful reality for a family still seeking justice for a life taken too soon.
