Kiara Jackson, a 25-year-old Black/African American woman from Cleveland, was found fatally shot before dawn on June 11, 2025, near the entrance to the Cleveland Metroparks’ Mill Creek Falls area off Turney Road. Police were called just before 4 a.m.; responding Metroparks officers discovered the 25-year-old dead at the scene. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner identified her as Kiara Jackson, and officials confirmed the killing occurred within the park area bordering Broadway Avenue, where
overnight access is restricted.
Investigators said Kiara Jackson had been part of a small group that drifted to Mill Creek Falls after spending Tuesday together elsewhere. The park was closed when the gathering arrived around 3–4 a.m., and authorities told reporters they were not aware of any argument immediately preceding the shooting. In a briefing the following morning, Metroparks Police leadership described the wound as a single gunshot injury that took the 25-year-old’s life on the spot.
Within hours, detectives arrested 23-year-old Lavia M. Paul. She was charged with murder in the death of Kiara Jackson, age 25, and later appeared in Cleveland Municipal Court, where a judge set bond at $500,000 and she entered a not-guilty plea. Records reviewed by local outlets indicate she had been on probation following a child-endangerment conviction earlier in the year. Authorities have not publicly detailed a motive, and early statements emphasized the absence of a clear altercation just before the single shot was fired.
In the days that followed, loved ones marked the loss of Kiara Jackson, age 25, remembering her as a young mother and daughter whose absence left a void for family and friends across Cleveland. Public memorial listings and tributes documented funeral arrangements and the names of relatives, underscoring the life she led before the violence that ended it.
