In the quiet evening of November 29, 2016, in Manassas, Virginia, a dispute that had been simmering escalated into a fatal act of violence, claiming the life of 24-year-old Cordrey Douglas Jackson. The tragic events unfolded in the parking lot of a Food Lion grocery store, stemming from a child custody dispute. Jackson was involved in an altercation with Roberta Edlina Brandon, then 23, and another man.
The argument took a deadly turn when a firearm was introduced. Jackson suffered a gunshot wound to his upper body. Despite the grave injury, he managed to stumble into the grocery store, collapsing in the produce section. He was rushed to a local hospital, but the wound proved to be fatal, and he later died.
Following the shooting, the Prince William County Police swiftly identified Roberta Edlina Brandon as the primary suspect. A warrant was issued for her arrest on charges of murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The investigation revealed that all three individuals involved in the initial altercation were known to each other. Brandon was apprehended the day after the shooting in Capitol Heights, Maryland.
The legal process that followed saw Brandon face the consequences of her actions. In July 2022, a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The case had seen an earlier development where Brandon had pleaded guilty in September 2019, but she was later allowed to withdraw that plea in July 2021, leading to the jury trial. In February 2023, Roberta Edlina Brandon was sentenced to sixty years in prison for the murder, with thirty-three of those years suspended. She also received a three-year sentence for the firearms charge and will be on indefinite probation upon her release.
