Charles Jackson

Serial Killer

Charles Jackson Jr.: The East Bay Slayer

Early Life

Charles Jackson Jr. was born on February 12, 1937, in Louisiana. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Mississippi, where he was raised in a rural setting. Jackson's upbringing was marred by adversity; his father was an alcoholic who exhibited aggression towards family members. Due to financial hardships, Jackson dropped out of high school in the early 1950s and became involved in criminal activities. His first arrest occurred in 1953 at the age of 16, marking the beginning of a lengthy criminal record that included charges of theft, burglary, rape, assault, and molestation of minors. Over the next two decades, he was arrested multiple times, with documented offenses on March 2, 1962; January 11, 1965; May 15, 1967; October 1969; June 9, 1970; August 21, 1975; and May 22, 1978. Following his release on September 12, 1981, Jackson worked as a handyman and performed other odd jobs.

Confirmed Victims

Between 1975 and 1982, Jackson committed a series of heinous crimes in the San Francisco Bay Area. His known victims include:

• Sonya Higginbotham, 19: Murdered in June 1975 in her Oakland home. She was found sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.
• Ann Johnson, 27: Found stabbed and sexually assaulted in her Montclair home in August 1975.
• Cynthia Waxman, 11: Abducted on April 22, 1978, while playing with a cousin in Moraga near Buckingham Drive. Her body was discovered hours later in nearby bushes by her mother.
• Henry Vila, 62, and his wife Edith Vila, 59: Both were found stabbed to death in their Albany Hill home on November 22, 1981. Edith had been sexually assaulted.
• Betty Jo Grunzweig, 37: Murdered on December 4, 1981, in Oakland. She was found sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.
• Gail Leslie Slocum, 34: Found murdered on December 8, 1981, in Oakland. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed.
• Joan Marie Stewart, 44: Abducted on January 2, 1982. Her body was discovered on January 5, 1982, in a wooded area near Montclair. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times.

...

Confirmed Victims: (8)

Sonia Higginbotham Age: (19), Date of Death: 1975-06

Charles Jackson (serial killer) - Wikipedia