After nearly ten years, a woman has been accused of a deadly hit-and-run involving a man, during which the victim's body was allegedly concealed. Bridgette Parden Mathews, 42, has been indicted by a grand jury in Mobile County, Alabama, and was taken into custody on Monday, as reported by local Fox affiliate WALA.
While authorities anticipate additional arrests related to the case, Mathews was not hard to find. She has been incarcerated since August 16 due to a judge's decision to revoke her probation, reportedly for failing to maintain contact with her probation officer following a 2019 conviction.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood acknowledged the challenges of a case without the victim's body but expressed confidence in the evidence presented to the grand jury.
He stated, "You know, there are some issues that arise when you don't have a body. Of course, that part in the investigation is not over. We do believe that the evidence we presented to the grand jury did give them enough evidence to indict and for us to try Bridgette Mathews in this case."
Charles Jackson Jr., the victim, had been residing with his sister in west Mobile when he disappeared in the Semmes area in 2014. His sister, Kisha Logan, believed from the outset that foul play was involved, citing previous threats against Charles and the inability of his girlfriend to locate him. She said, "When the officer showed up to my home to take the report, I told him, 'This is not a missing person's case. It's a murder investigation. I knew immediately.'"
While investigators have not divulged specific details of the case, they claim that the arrest of Bridgette Mathews is the result of new physical evidence and information from witnesses, some of whom were previously uncooperative. District Attorney Blackwood hopes that more individuals with knowledge of the case will come forward.
"This is the first arrest after many years of investigation," he noted. "Many witnesses have been talked to. A lot of evidence has been uncovered. This is the first in what we believe will be multiple arrests."
He also expressed confidence that someone in the community has relevant information and urged them to step forward. Mathews has a prior criminal history, including a 2016 guilty plea in a drug case and a 2019 conviction for escape related to her failure to comply with a prison diversion program. She received a 15-year prison sentence, with most of it suspended, and was placed on five years of probation.
In another news, a Missouri man, John Wonder, faces chilling accusations of murdering his wife during a bitter divorce, leaving a chilling one-word message in blood on her lifeless body. See detailed story here
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