ST. LOUIS – Deonna Jackson-Bowen, a mother of three young kids gunned down while trying to run for safety. Police are still trying to pin down the killer.
Renee Jordan said her daughter, Deonna, was a family first kind of person. She had three kids who were her world – a 12-year-old son, a 2-year-old daughter, and a 1-year-old son.
Deonna worked full time as a dietary worker at a retirement home and Renee said the residents loved her.
That joy that Deonna brought to so many people was taken away around midnight on July 30, 2019. Deonna was shot to death in her car on the 1400 block of Rutger near the Peabody Housing Complex where she lived.
Lt. Scott Aubuchon, the head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide division, said they think Deonna was being chased around the Peabody Housing Complex by the suspect. She got in her car and was circling around trying to get away from the suspect. Aubuchon said eventually the suspect caught up with Deonna and shot and killed her.
Renee believes this could have started as a domestic dispute. She thinks Deonna knew this person and went to her car to keep the situation away from her kids.
Renee got the call about Deonna’s death while she was at work. She had to digest that her child had been killed and her three grandkids were motherless.
Renee and her husband have taken in the children. She said she hasn’t had much time to grieve. There is school and daycare and attorney fees to get custody of the kids. But every once and a while, things catch up with her.
Lt. Aubuchon said they have a person of interest in this case but need a little more from the community. He said someone may have seen a car racing through the streets that night or something else that could help police.
Renee said Deonna would take her neighbors to the grocery store or braids kid’s hair for little or nothing. She took care of her neighbors and is now hoping those neighbors help police and take care of Deonna.
CrimeStoppers is offering up to a $5,000 reward for a tip leading to an arrest in this case. You can email or call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS. All tips are completely anonymous.
