Missing Mother Ebony Jackson Found Dead in Trunk of Car in St. Louis. / Dyanthany Yeapheat Proudie Charged w/ 1st Degree Murder & Armed Criminal Action

CHRISTINE BYERS
SOURCE: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
CREATED: JANUARY 9, 2013
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ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The search for Ebony Jackson has turned into a search for whoever left her dead.

Police said the body of the 30-year-old Oklahoma City woman was discovered in the trunk of her car here Tuesday -- four days after her 3-month-old boy was found abandoned in a Breckenridge Hills apartment complex with no known connection to Jackson.

"I'm numb," said a tearful Tondra Mosley, of Los Angeles, in a phone interview moments after learning of her cousin's death. "This was an only child to her mother, and now there is a baby with no mother after only three months of giving birth. For her life to be taken like this; what makes a person want to take the life of another person? What makes you go that far? What was the gain? What was the purpose?"

Police have known that Jackson's 2004 Mitsubishi Galant was equipped with a GPS tracker as part of its financing. Investigators obtained a court order Tuesday morning to activate it, which led them to the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue in north St. Louis.

At least one neighbor along the desolate city street, lined mostly with vacant lots and crumbling houses, said the car had been there for days. The car had Colorado license plates, contrary to an early alert posted by a relative that the registration was in Oklahoma.

The car was towed to the St. Louis County police crime lab in Clayton at about noon. Breckenridge Hills police, who ran the missing-persons investigation, obtained a search warrant to open the trunk just before 5 p.m. Jackson's decomposed body was inside, police said. The cause of death was not immediately determined but was presumed to be foul play.

About two hours passed before Breckenridge Hills police notified Jackson's mother, Stella Jackson, of Denver, of the body's discovery, officials said.

It was unclear what role the small police department in Breckenridge Hills, a community of about 5,000, will play moving forward. The St. Louis County medical examiner will conduct an autopsy, county police are checking the car for evidence, and city police will lead the homicide investigation.

Meanwhile, Jackson's family is struggling to understand.

Stella Jackson is a retired Army veteran whose military job led her to different states during Ebony Jackson's childhood. When she wasn't traveling with her mother, Ebony Jackson lived with Mosley's mother in East St. Louis. She attended the John F. Kennedy elementary school there before it was demolished, Mosley recalled.

As a teenager, major headaches began to plague Ebony Jackson, family members said. Doctors discovered a brain tumor. Surgeries did not remove it entirely, and a shunt drained fluid and pressure from her brain, family members said.

At first, her cognitive function seemed to be greatly impaired, said Mosley, who moved in with Stella Jackson, whom she considers her sister, to help care for Ebony Jackson, whom she considers her niece.

But, through the years, Jackson's memory improved. Mosley said Jackson had dreams of joining the Air Force but could not pass the physical exam. Most recently, she worked as a sales representative at Macy's and lived with Craig Prom, the father of her child, in Oklahoma City. The two had dated for about two years, Mosley said.

When she learned she was pregnant, Ebony Jackson was overjoyed, having written off her fertility as a casualty of the medications and medical treatments, family members said.

The only residual effects of the tumor were moments of confusion that felt overwhelming for Jackson, Mosley said. "What's normal for us, like misplacing keys, would make her lose awareness of all that was going on," Mosley said. "She would always call her mother, that was her nucleus, that's what keeps her centered."

Stella Jackson added, "She always felt like she was less than everybody else because of what she struggled with."

And that's why her family knew something was wrong when they couldn't reach her by cellphone on Friday after her baby, Donavon Prom, was found safe in a car seat in the heated apartment hallway. There is no known witness to his arrival.

On Jan. 2, Jackson had left the home she shared with the baby's father. He came home from work that day to a note from Jackson saying she needed her space, Mosley said.

Prom could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Stella Jackson said she could not reach him, either.

On Thursday, Jackson went to her aunt's house in East St. Louis, but no one was home. She then went to a neighbor's house about 8:15 p.m., Mosley said, to show off the baby. She left just before 10 p.m., telling the neighbor that she needed to find a place to stay for the night, Mosley explained.

Jackson then called Mosley's mother, saying she would stop by her house Friday with the baby, Mosley recalled. "She told my mother she was staying with a friend somewhere in Fairview Heights or O'Fallon," Mosley said.

There would be no visit; on Friday, the family recognized pictures of the abandoned baby on TV. A family spokeswoman, Linda Lawson, issued a statement outside the Breckenridge Hills Police Department late Tuesday.

"This is unimaginable heartache, and we are our brother's keepers," she said. "Someone out there knows what soulless people did this: Please come forward to let us know before it's your loved one."

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4:02 PM, Jan 9, 2013
Written by
Brian Kramer

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - NewsChannel 5 has learned that the missing mother found dead in the trunk of her car was shot in the head.

Ebony Jackson's 2004 Mitsubishi Galant was found Tuesday around 10 a.m. in the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue.

Jackson's 3-month-old baby was discovered in the hallway of the Hickory Trace Apartment building in the 3500 block of Dehart Place on the night of Friday, January 4.

A man from Oklahoma claiming to be the father of the baby said Ebony Jackson left with their son and was headed to Missouri. That man came to St. Louis earlier this week to take a paternity test, the results of which are still pending.

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Body of mom found in trunk: 30-year-old missing mother dead

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 16:32

The body of a mom found in a trunk is that of Ebony Jackson. Police say the 30-year-old missing Oklahoma mother was discovered dead in a St. Louis neighborhood Tuesday. While she’s had a troubled relationship with her baby’s father, there are no immediate suspects at this time.

In a Jan. 9 News9 report, police confirmed to media sources that the body found in the trunk was that of the missing mom. Police made the grisly discovery in a North St. Louis neighborhood. Days earlier, her 3-month old infant child was found abandoned.

A family member for the missing mom said, “Now we know that there is no doubt that Ebony was in the St. Louis area. That removed the doubt that was planted there.”

“It’s just totally out of character for her to be in a neighborhood like this, or just the car being in a neighborhood like this,” another family member said on the body of the mother found in the trunk.

Reportedly, Jackson has a history of memory loss due to a brain injury she suffered in the past.

Not much is known about Jackson other than she’s been arrested three times since 2005, one charged included assault and battery on a police officer, the others involved shoplifting at major retailers.

With the body of the mom found in the trunk, family members at least have closure on her whereabouts. Now the case turns to Ebony Jackson’s cause of death.

At this time, her boyfriend is in St. Louis trying to bring the child back to Oklahoma, where he resides.

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So I take it the paternity test is in and the bf is confirmed as the Father? The article above this one says one thing and this one says the Father is in St Louis trying to take the baby back to OK. The media can be so confusing.
What a sad story.

I also found it very confusing. Hopefully we'll learn more in the following days.

6 hours ago • By Christine Byers [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 314-340-80870

ST. LOUIS  • An autopsy revealed Wednesday that the missing mother found dead Tuesday in the trunk of her car died of a single gunshot wound.

Law enforcement sources said the fatal gunshot wound was discovered behind one of Ebony Jackson’s ears. The body of the 30-year-old Moore, Okla., woman was discovered in the trunk of her car in St. Louis on Tuesday — four days after her 3-month-old baby was found abandoned in a Breckenridge Hills apartment complex with no known connection to Jackson.

A GPS device inside Jackson’s car led police to the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue Tuesday morning. The car was parked in front of a home, which the city had declared vacant and abandoned in June, according to a notice posted on the front doors. Louis Mitchell, who lives in the house next to it, said the car had been there for days.

Police said they were following multiple leads in the case.

Jackson left the home she shared with the baby’s father, Craig Prom, just outside of Oklahoma City to visit relatives in East St. Louis on Jan. 2. She left a note for Prom saying she needed her space, and relatives here didn’t know she was coming to visit, family members have said.

Her baby, Donavon Prom, was found safe in a car seat in the heated apartment hallway in Breckenridge Hills early Friday. There is no known witness to his arrival.

Prom could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Police are awaiting the results of a paternity test to prove he is the child’s father, and the family courts will have to determine whether the child can be returned to him, according to Breckenridge Hills Police Chief Perry Hopkins.

At a news conference Wednesday, Hopkins apologized to Jackson’s family for not maintaining communication with them throughout the investigation.

“Breckenridge Hills is not a large police department,” he said. “We weren’t not doing our job. But we don’t have someone there to answer all of their phone calls and questions because we were on the street doing the investigation. We should have kept in better touch with the family.”

Family spokeswoman Linda Lawson said the apology meant a lot.

“Now, we feel there will be more eyes ... on this to connect the dots that will lead back to who did this,” Lawson said after the news conference, which was held at St. Louis police headquarters. The city’s homicide detectives are the lead investigators on the case.

Prom has worked as an exterminator for the past five years for the Oklahoma City Housing Authority. Shortly after Donavon was born, Jackson and Prom brought him in to introduce him to co-workers, said Mark Gillett, executive director of the Oklahoma Housing Authority.

“He brought Ebony and the baby here to show her and the baby off,” Gillett said, adding that he hasn’t spoken to Prom since Saturday. “He was thrilled. This is an upsetting time for him.”

Jackson’s family members said the couple had been together for about two years. Police had responded to the home they shared only once, in 2008 for a domestic incident in which Prom was the victim and a female other than Jackson was the suspect.

Lawson said Jackson’s family has been “spiritually ripped apart.” She said she can barely understand Jackson’s mother, Stella Jackson of Denver, when they speak on the phone because she is crying so much. Ebony Jackson was Stella Jackson’s only child.

“Her tears will never be dried, but I believe she will know what happened to her child,” Lawson said.

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Coroner: Ebony Jackson died of shot to the neck

Posted: Jan 10, 2013 1:35 PM CST
Updated: Jan 10, 2013 1:35 PM CST

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The mother of a 3-month-old child found abandoned inside a St. Louis County apartment building died of a gunshot wound to the neck.

The St. Louis coroner's office announced the cause of death Thursday for 30-year-old Ebony Jackson. Jackson was found dead Tuesday in the trunk of a car. Police continue to seek clues in her death.

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Body of Mom Found in Trunk Prompts No Arrests in Ebony Jackson Case

Posted: January 10th, 2013 in St Louis by LALATE

ST LOUIS (LALATE) – After a body of a mom was found in her truck in St Louis this week, many believed that a swift arrest would follow. The body of Ebony Jackson, a new mom, was found dead inside her St Louis parked vehicle. Jackson had a bullet wound to the head. And yet, another day has passed with no arrests.

On Wednesday, St Louis police apologized to Ebony Jackson’s family for not keeping them informed about the progress of the case. The investigation still remains problematic.

The Ebony Jackson case started on New Years Day. On January 1, Ebony Jackson woke up insider her Oklahoma City home. There she lived with her baby’s father, Craig Prom. For reasons still unknown, on January 2, she left Craig Prom a note that she would leaving Prom temporarily to visit family in St Louis.

Craig Prom and Jackson had recently had a baby boy, Donavan Prom. For reasons still unclear, Jackson wanted space from Craig Prom. So she decided to leave him a note that she was taking their baby and driving to St. Louis. Unfortunately, no one in St Louis knew she was coming.

On Friday, residents found baby Donovan abandoned in his car seat inside the hallway of a Breckenridge Hills apartment building. Not until Tuesday did police find Jackson’s car. It was found in front of an Elmbank Avenue home officially declared vacant. Witnesses report the car had been there for days.

Craig Prom has since driven from Oklahoma to St Louis to offer DNA testing. Breckenridge Hills detective Jeff Heisse tells news that the baby will be turned over if the DNA confirms that Prom is the father. A donation effort has so far raised $5,000 for the baby.

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Posted on: 5:38 pm, January 11, 2013, by Paul Schankman, updated on: 06:37pm, January 11, 2013

ST. LOUIS, MO (KPLR) – Ebony Jackson’s mother is speaking publicly about the mysterious murder exactly one week after her daughter went missing.
Members of Ebony’s family came to continue their plea for help from the public to find the killer. Ebony’s father and several aunts came from Paducah, Kentucky. Her mother Stella Jackson came in from Denver, Colorado. Having such a large family is making this burden easier to bear. But, it is still very hard for any of them to believe; much less understand.
“I have no idea how anyone could feel like they could take a person’s life and its okay. I am just at a loss for words and trying to process it still.” said Stella Jackson.
“I know somebody out there knows something somewhere, I know somebody saw something. yes we are very grateful for the baby but we also lost our other baby and that’s not right, that’s not fair.” said Ebony’s Aunt Gayle Mitchell.
Ebony came to town last week from Oklahoma City to show off her three month old baby boy to family and friends in East St. louis. But, no one heard from her after Thursday. On Friday her baby was found abandoned in Breckenridge Hills.
Then on Tuesday Ebony’s body was found in the trunk of her car. She had been shot once in the head.
There is a prayer vigil being held from 3-4pm at the Gregg Chapel AME Church in the 4400 block of Elmbank in North St. Louis. The vigil is being held on the same block where Ebony’s body was found.
On Saturday and Sunday the family and the community will be collecting money from 8am-2pm at 89th and State Streets in East St. Louis to help pay for Ebony’s funeral.

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must-see video.

Funeral Expense Donation Link: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Posted: Friday, January 11, 2013 3:28 pm

Friday morning the City of Pine Lawn presented a check to CrimeStoppers for $8,000 to be used as a reward for information in the Ebony Jackson case.

Officers, including Chief Ricky Collins, from the Pine Lawn Police Department stood at the intersection of Natural Bridge Rd. and Union Blvd. to collect money for the reward earlier in the week.

Jackson was found dead in the trunk of her car in north St. Louis on Tuesday. Four days earlier her 3-month-old son was found abandoned in the hallway of a Breckenridge Hills apartment building.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to investigate the case.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.

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MOORE, Okla. —Police are hoping Friday to get the cellphone records of a slain Oklahoma mother.

The family of Ebony Jackson is meeting investigators hoping to get more answers. Jackson was traveling to St. Louis to show her new baby to friends and family there, according to police.

Her body was found in the trunk of her car and she had been shot in the head, according to investigators.

Jackson's son was found abandoned in a St. Louis apartment complex.

Investigators are waiting on DNA tests regarding the boy's possible father. Craig Prom has worked at the Oklahoma City Housing Authority for nearly seven years.

St. Louis stations report the child is still in state custody.

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ST. LOUIS • The family of Ebony Jackson made a public appeal Saturday for her killer to turn himself in, as dozens of people marched and prayed against violence.
“If you are out there, please, turn yourself in,” Tondra Mosley of Los Angeles, a second cousin to Jackson, pleaded to the yet-unidentified killer.

The body of Jackson, 30, of Moore, Okla., was discovered Tuesday in the trunk of her car on Elmbank Avenue, four days after her 3-month-old baby was found abandoned but safe in a Breckenridge Hills apartment complex.

“You had enough heart to make sure that the baby was OK,” said Mosley, as she spoke with reporters at a community vigil on Elmbank, near the site of the discovery of Jackson’s body. “Turn yourself in, because I’m sure wherever you are, this is eating you up.”

Jackson, who was in the area to visit relatives, died of a gunshot wound behind one ear.

Family members have said Jackson on Jan. 2 left the home she shared with the baby’s father, Craig Prom, just outside Oklahoma City, to visit relatives in East St. Louis, leaving him a note saying she needed her space.

The baby, Donavon Prom, was found safe in a car seat in the heated apartment hallway in Breckenridge Hills early Friday, prompting the search for his mother.

Her body was found by police who used her car’s GPS to locate it on Elmbank.

Jackson’s mother, Stella Jackson of Denver, attended the vigil Saturday at Gregg Chapel AME Church, 4433 North Elmbank. About 50 people sang, prayed and marched in a cold rain to stand in front of the boarded-up house where the car was parked and vowed to address violence in the community.

“She was a great person. She loved everybody. She’s going to be missed dearly,” Stella Jackson told the group, her voice breaking, as they stood in a circle later inside the church.

When asked about the baby, she responded: “He’s good, he’s good.” She and other relatives declined to provide further details.

Members of the group took turns leading prayers, including the Rev. Kevin Jacques, who asked God to “bring whoever committed this hideous crime to justice.”

Also present was St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, who has said he will run for mayor. Noting the cycle of violence and grieving in St. Louis neighborhoods, he told the group: “We have to stop meeting like this.”

Relatives said Jackson’s funeral arrangements are incomplete.
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ST. LOUIS -- Funeral services are Saturday for Ebony Jackson, whose body was found in the trunk of a car days after her infant son was found inside a St. Louis County apartment building.
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CAHOKIA • Friends and relatives offered tearful tributes Saturday at the funeral service for Ebony Jackson, who was found shot to death in her car’s trunk in St. Louis four days after her baby was discovered abandoned in Breckenridge Hills.
Her mother, Stella Jackson, told the audience of about 200 at Power of Change Christian Center that her daughter had been strong, determined and “feisty.” Jackson, at times struggling to speak, read aloud a tribute she wrote her daughter after she was found slain on Jan. 8.

“I know that your soul is in a much better place,” Jackson said. “My ultimate understanding is that you were the greatest gift from God.”

Jackson, of the Denver area, added that “there is no greater pain than losing a child.”

“I’d give you every ounce of my air to let you breathe,” the victim’s mother said. “Ebony, I will always love you from the bottom of my heart.”

Jackson, 30, of Moore, Okla., was found dead inside the trunk of her 2004 Mitsubishi Galant, which detectives discovered parked in the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue in St. Louis. Four days earlier, her 3-month-old son, Donavon Prom, was found abandoned but unhurt in his car seat inside an apartment complex hallway in Breckenridge Hills. Authorities had no link between the complex and Jackson. No one has been arrested in the case.

An autopsy revealed she died from a single gunshot wound behind one ear.

Several ministers spoke at Jackson’s two-hour funeral. Among them was the Rev. Kevin Jacques of Gregg Chapel AME Church, in St. Louis, who stood near the victim’s casket and said he hopes that “whoever committed this senseless act comes to justice.”

Pastor Amber Cole, representing the Homicide, Ministers & Community Alliance, said police are working to find Jackson’s killer.

“We tell you we’re here for you,” Cole said. “We love you and this is not the end of the matter.”

Cole’s group, organized in 2009, is a collaboration of St. Louis police homicide detectives, church leaders in the St. Louis area and community groups.

Also speaking was Pine Lawn Police Chief Rickey Collins who has helped with reward fundraising efforts. He said he had received a phone message in which the caller pledged $5,000 to the reward fund for information leading to Jackson’s killer. Collins said later the pledge raised the fund’s total to $14,000.

Relatives have said that on Jan. 2 Jackson left the home she shared with the baby’s father, Craig Prom, just outside Oklahoma City, to visit family members in East St. Louis. They said Jackson had left Prom a note saying that she needed her space.

Authorities have yet to determine where Jackson was killed or whether she had been in Breckenridge Hills.

On Saturday, Jackson’s funeral included numerous tributes, singers, musicians and an interpretive dance.

Jackson’s body left the church in an antique, glass-sided hearse pulled by two Percheron draft horses. Her body was to be cremated.
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ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – St. Louis police have confirmed an arrest in the Ebony Jackson-Shelton case.
Authorities say a 40-year-old black man is in police custody. Charges could be filed soon.
Ebony Jackson, 30, was found dead in the trunk of her car in North St. Louis in January. Jackson’s 4-month-old son was found abandoned in a Breckenridge Hills apartment complex days before that.
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Great news!!

I read up thread to see how old the Father is and it doesn't say. All we know so far is it's a 40 yr old black man who was arrested. Anyone know if the paternity test came back and the results or the bf's age?

No but w/google it later. If I don't please 'remind me to remember'.

I found his FB, interesting.
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Yes, it is!

In a poignant interview that aired Jan. 31 on KWTV Channel 9 in Oklahoma City, former Belgium resident Craig Prom is shown rocking his sleeping
4-month-old son Donavon, softly singing “It’s a Wonderful World.” His son’s 30-year-old mother Ebony Jackson, Prom’s partner, was found murdered, her
body stuffed in the trunk of her car, on Jan. 8 in St. Louis, Mo.
It was a wonderful world, Prom, 46, said in a phone interview Monday, until Jackson was murdered.

Now, he’s worried about raising the boy on his own, finding affordable child care and mourning the loss of the woman he considered his common-law wife.

“The hardest part is getting up every day and not seeing Ebony, not holding her,” he said in the TV interview.

Donavon was found seemingly abandoned at 5 a.m. Friday, Jan. 4, in his car seat in the entryway of an apartment complex in Breckenridge Hills, Ill., near
East St. Louis.

Jackson had left Wednesday, Jan. 2, to drive to East St. Louis, where she grew up, to show off her son to relatives and friends and planned to also visit her
mother in Denver, Prom said. The apartment complex where Donavon was found is across the street from where Jackson’s aunt lives.

When Donavon’s picture was shown on TV news reports, Jackson’s cousin recognized him and notified police of his identity.

The next day, Saturday, Jan. 5, Prom and his brother John, who lives in Princeton, Okla., drove to Breckenridge Hills to pick up his son. However, Donavon
had been placed in state protective custody. Since he and Jackson were not married, Prom was told he had to take a DNA test on Monday, Jan. 7, to prove
paternity.

He and his brother returned on Jan. 7 and stayed in the area for a week until the test confirmed he was the boy’s father and a court hearing to grant
custody was held. By then, Jackson’s body had been found.

The St. Louis medical examiner determined Jackson died from a single gunshot wound behind an ear.
The boy’s guardian objected to releasing Donavon to his father, saying Prom was a person of interest in the mother’s murder.

But the judge granted Prom custody.

“At this point, we don’t have any suspects,” David Marzullo, director of public information for the St. Louis Police Department, said Tuesday. “It’s still being
investigated.”

Before returning to his home in Moore, Okla., a suburb of Oklahoma City, Prom took his son to Wisconsin to visit his mother Eleanor in Belgium and other
family members. His sisters Lynn Wilterdink of Hingham and Jill Nothem of West Bend went to Oklahoma for a few weeks to help their brother.

Prom said he met Jackson in Oklahoma City in October 2011, and they immediately hit it off.

They had a common bond in that both are dealing with the effects of brain trauma, he said.

Prom sustained a brain injury in a motorcycle accident when he was 19. He was in a coma for three months and doctors did not know if he would walk or
talk again.

“He has limited ability to read and write fluently and his attention span has suffered, but he is a walking miracle,” his mother said. “He did all his own therapy
and made a remarkable recovery.”

Jackson had several surgeries and treatments for a brain tumor when she was 16 and would become confused and forgetful, Prom said.

“She and I made concessions for each other. We worked together very well,” he said.

The couple lived together for 14 months and were elated when Jackson became pregnant, he said.

“Ebony and I thought we couldn’t have children because of our brain injuries,” Prom said. “She was very proud and happy to have a son.”

Rumors that their relationship was rocky and Jackson was leaving him are not true, he said.

“She left a note saying she was leaving to visit her family,” he said. “She didn’t say anything that would lead me to believe she was leaving me.”

At 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, Prom said, he received a text message from Jackson, his last communication with her, saying, “Good night. We both love
you.”

Mrs. Prom said she visited the couple shortly after Donavon was born Sept. 25.

“They were devoted to one another and so happy,” she said of her son and Jackson.

Since the murder, Mrs. Prom talks to her son frequently and they cry a lot, she said.

“A person reads about these things in newspapers or hears about them on the nightly news, but when it hits close to home, it is devastating,” she said.

Prom, who returned this week to his job as a pest control specialist for the Oklahoma Housing Authority, said members of his church are helping him take
care of Donavon.

“He’s beautiful and he’s happy,” Prom said of his son. “People ask if he ever cries. He coos, smiles and laughs. The only time he’s unhappy is when he
doesn’t want to take a nap or go to bed.”

Prom said he hopes the police arrest Jackson’s killer soon.

“I would tell him he took away a loving mother, a loving wife,” he said.

“I believe with all of my heart that she protected this boy.”

A fund for Donavon Prom has been set up at the Bank of Oklahoma, 201 Robert S. Kerr Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73102.
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Well at least we now know he is the Father of the baby and he's 46 so I bet he's off the hook as a POI.

Great sleuthing, Raine!

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - Murder charges have been filed against a 40-year-old man for the death of Ebony Jackson.

Dyanthany Yeapheat Proudie has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Jackson was found shot to death in the trunk of her car in January.

Her infant son was found abandoned days earlier at an apartment complex in Breckenridge Hills. Proudie's estranged wife lives in the apartment complex.

Court documents state Jackson, a former resident of East St. Louis who was living in Oklahoma City, was an acquaintance of Proudie and reconnected with him when she returned to St. Louis for a visit with her son.

Proudie is accused of shooting Jackson at his apartment in the 4100 block of Ashland while she was preparing to take a bath. She was shot once in her head, near her left ear.

Jackson's body was found in the trunk of her car, in the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue on January 8, several blocks away from Proudie's home.

Proudie was convicted of second-degree burglary in 1990, second-degree assault in 1992, and unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon on 2012. He is currently on probation.

Jackson's cousin, Tondra Mosley, who considers herself an aunt, said the family was waiting for weeks for word of an arrest.

Mosley said her first reaction when she heard Proudie's name was, "Who is this person? This is not a name that rings a bell."

Prosecutors won't talk about a motive for the murder.
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Dyanthany Proudie
There are two videos at the link

ST. LOUIS • The man charged with killing Ebony Jackson, whose body was found in the trunk of her car days after her infant son was discovered abandoned but unharmed, confessed to a friend who helped him scrub the crime scene, according to a newly released affidavit filed in court.

Dyanthany Y. Proudie, 40, is accused of shooting Jackson once near the left ear on Jan. 2, as she prepared to take a bath at his apartment in the 4100 block of Ashland Avenue.

A friend of his told police that afterward, he pulled up bathroom tiles and used bleach to clean up blood while Proudie used a circular saw to remove wooden floorboards, police said in a statement placed in the court record.

Proudie allegedly told the friend that he shot Jackson, a former girlfriend, “over personal matters.” The Post-Dispatch is not naming the friend, nor identifying two other alleged witnesses to the clean-up, because they have not been charged.

Brad Kessler, the lawyer representing Proudie, said Friday that his client had nothing to do with Jackson’s killing or a clean-up. Kessler suggested that the friend cited in the affidavit was the last person seen with Jackson and may be the killer.

“I would suggest everyone should be looking for him,” Kessler said. “When my client left Ebony Jackson in the company of (the friend), she was alive and well.”

Authorities who filed charges against Proudie on Feb. 27 said witnesses played a crucial role in cracking the case but did not elaborate or pinpoint the time of Jackson’s death.

The records in St. Louis Circuit Court shed light on both.

The friend told police he helped Jackson with her luggage earlier that evening when she arrived at the building Proudie owns. Jackson, 30, who has family ties here, and her infant son were visiting from her home in Moore, Okla. The man said the two left for dinner while he stayed behind with two other individuals, then he left too.

The friend said he returned about 11 p.m. and Proudie was there with the two others from earlier. There also was a baby in a car seat but no Jackson. The friend said he saw a large pool of blood in the bathroom, and assumed it was hers. Then, he said, Proudie asked him to help clean it up.

After they did so, according to court records, the telltale flooring was taken to the rear of Proudie’s building and burned. Jackson’s belongings allegedly were placed in Proudie’s pickup truck and dumped at some unknown location. The records do not specify who disposed of the items.

Police became involved Jan. 4, after someone found the baby — with no clue to his identity — in a car seat in the hallway of an apartment building at 3567 Dehart Place in Breckenridge Hills. It is now known to be the complex where Proudie’s estranged wife lives.

Family identified the child from a picture in news reports. They said Jackson had planned to introduce 3-month-old Donavon Prom to relatives in East St. Louis, but nobody had seen her.

On Jan. 8, Breckenridge Hills police found Jackson’s car by using a GPS tracker that came with the vehicle. It was in the 4400 block of Elmbank Avenue, just blocks from Proudie’s home. Jackson’s body was in the trunk.

A search of cellphone records by detectives revealed phone calls between Jackson and Proudie.

Police served a search warrant at Proudie’s apartment on Feb. 20, after interviewing the friend. They arrested Proudie Feb. 25. Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce’s office refused charges, asking for more information. He was re-arrested Feb. 26 and charged the next day with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Police referred all questions about the witnesses to prosecutors, who said no charges had been sought against them, and otherwise declined comment.

Proudie has a history of criminal charges in St. Louis and St. Louis County, and was ordered by a judge to stay away from his estranged wife and their two children after she complained that he tried to take them and showed up at her work.

She claimed in court documents that he had physically assaulted her, set her car on fire and threatened serious harm, saying she had ruined another relationship of his.

Though the claims were outlined in protective orders the woman applied for in 2008 and 2011, she denied to a reporter that she made them.

Donavon Prom was returned to his father, Crag Prom, in Oklahoma.
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Ebony Jackson and baby Donavon in a photo taken just before Christmas in Oklahoma. Provided by family.