In the pre-dawn hours of October 28, 2025, a brutal home invasion in Monroe, Louisiana, claimed the lives of three people, including 27-year-old Jamal Bosley, a Black/African American man. Police responded to reports of a shooting on the 2000 block of Grammont Street just before 3 a.m. Inside a residence, they discovered Mr. Bosley, his friend Jaborris Simpson, 25, and Mr. Simpson’s two-year-old daughter, Jhersi Simpson. All three had been shot to death.
The toddler was rushed to a local hospital, but attempts to save her were unsuccessful.
The triple homicide shocked the city, with the mayor calling it a “moral wake-up call” and the police chief describing the crime as a “special kind of evil.” Investigators immediately began pursuing leads and stated that an outpouring of tips from the public provided valuable assistance. The Monroe Police Department worked tirelessly, and within a day of the killings, they announced an arrest.
On October 29, detectives took 24-year-old Travis Tyrone Payton into custody. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, home invasion, and criminal conspiracy. Authorities noted that Payton had 11 prior arrests and that if he had fully served a previous sentence, he would have still been incarcerated at the time of the murders. Two days later, on October 31, police arrested a second suspect, 24-year-old Cameron James Criner, in connection with the slayings. Officials described Criner’s criminal history as “extensive and deeply troubling.”
In May 2026, Travis Payton appeared in court and entered a plea of not guilty to all charges. Latrice Simpson, the mother of Jaborris and grandmother of Jhersi, expressed her shock at the plea. "My son and my granddaughter and Jamal Bosley, I know they didn't deserve to be taken from us like that," she said. "It was very horrendous and senseless act of violence." As of May 2026, the case against Payton was pending.
