In late July 2018, authorities in St. Charles County, Missouri, initiated an investigation following a grim discovery near the Mississippi River. On the morning of July 24, law enforcement officers were dispatched to the Maple Island Access area in West Alton, located near the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. Upon arrival, they located human remains that had been severely burned, complicating immediate identification. The body was eventually identified as that of Wilbert J. Irving, a 39-year-old male resident of Spanish Lake in St. Louis County. An autopsy and subsequent investigation revealed that Irving had been shot four times before his body was transported to the remote location and set on fire.
Detectives from the St. Charles County Police Department traced the violent events back to a residence on Woodstream Drive in St. Louis County, where Irving lived. It was determined that an argument had erupted between Irving and a tenant who lived in his basement. During the confrontation, the tenant allegedly produced a firearm and fatally shot Irving. Following the murder, the shooter solicited assistance from three other individuals to conceal the crime. The group reportedly moved the victim's body to a garage, purchased gasoline, and loaded the remains into the back of Irving's own vehicle. They then drove the body to the access point in West Alton to burn the evidence and abandoned the vehicle at a separate location.
The investigation led to the arrest of four individuals in connection with the homicide and the subsequent cover-up. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed charges against Brandon Jackson, 33, identifying him as the shooter; he faced counts of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. Three alleged accomplices—Raven Bennett, 28, Gabriell Ward, 25, and Brian Jackson, 28—were also taken into custody. Each of these three suspects was charged with tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse for their roles in disposing of the body and the vehicle. Brandon Jackson was held on a substantial cash-only bond, while the bonds for the other three defendants were set at a lower amount.
