Do you know who abducted and killed 10 year old Adre'anna Jackson in 2005? On a snowy December morning in 2005, 10-year-old Adre'anna Jackson, a young girl of Indigenous heritage, left her home in Lakewood, Washington, for what she thought was a regular school day. Unaware that classes had been canceled due to the weather, she began her short walk to Tillicum Elementary School, just three blocks away. When she didn't return home that afternoon, her mother reported her missing, sparking an extensive search that would grip the community.
Law enforcement, including Lakewood police and the FBI, along with numerous volunteers, scoured the area. Divers searched nearby American Lake, and bloodhounds were used in an attempt to pick up her trail, but the young girl had vanished without a trace.
For four agonizing months, Adre'anna's family and the community waited for answers. The hope of her safe return dwindled with each passing day. The search came to a devastating end on April 4, 2006, when two boys playing in an overgrown, vacant lot less than two miles from Adre'anna's home made a grim discovery. In a thicket of blackberry brambles, they found skeletal remains. Dental records would later confirm the remains belonged to Adre'anna Jackson. The lot was known as a shortcut for local children but also a place where transients and drug users congregated. Due to the condition of her remains, the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office was unable to determine a cause of death, though investigators have always treated the case as a homicide.
The investigation into Adre'anna's death has been fraught with challenges and has yet to lead to an arrest in her murder. Over the years, a few individuals have been considered persons of interest. One is Terapon Adhahn, a convicted child killer and sex offender who was familiar with the Tillicum area. Another person of interest was a man who had reportedly been at Adre'anna's home on the morning she disappeared. In 2006, a 44-year-old registered sex offender was arrested and questioned after a tip suggested he knew the location of her remains before they were officially found, but he was not considered a suspect in her death. The case eventually went cold due to a lack of new leads and evidence.
Despite the passage of time, the pursuit of justice for Adre'anna continues. The case remains the oldest unsolved homicide in the city of Lakewood. In mid-2024, the investigation received renewed attention when it was turned over to the Washington State Attorney General's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Cold Case Unit. A substantial reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer remains unclaimed. The community holds onto the hope that one day, the person responsible for the tragic death of Adre'anna Jackson will be brought to justice.
