TACOMA — A Forks man and a Tacoma man have been charged in the brutal killing of a single mother whose body was found on Joint Base Lewis-McChord last month, U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes announced.
Jeremy Jay Warren, 30, of Forks and Bobbie Anson Pease, 49, of Tacoma have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 34-year-old Jessica Shaunti Jackson of Tacoma, who was attacked with pepper spray, beaten with a baseball bat and shot three times, federal prosecutors said.
Pease was arrested after a traffic stop in Forks on Sept. 19. He was booked into the Clallam County jail for investigation of an unrelated domestic violence assault.
Warren and Pease each were charged Monday with second-degree murder in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma.
Jackson, who had a 14-year-old daughter, was last seen on video surveillance with the co-defendants Sept. 4 and was reported missing Sept. 8, Tacoma police said.
Her body was discovered in a wooded area on the military base south of Tacoma on Sept. 13.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Jackson had three gunshot wounds to the head and multiple skull fractures, including fractures of the right occipital and temporal bones.
“She had died from gunshot wounds to the head with likelihood that blunt force injury to the head was a significant contributing condition,” FBI special agent Matthew Scott wrote in the criminal complaint.
The 11-page, redacted complaint listed no apparent motive for Jackson’s killing.
The FBI conducted numerous interview and used video surveillance and cellphone data to identify Warren and Pease as suspects.
One video from a Spanaway storage business captured a vehicle resembling the 1999 Ford Explorer that Pease was driving near the scene at 1:12 p.m. and 1:47 p.m. Sept. 4, the FBI said.
Location data obtained from Pease’s cellphone matched the Spanaway sighting.
Warren also had been seen with Jackson earlier in the day at a Tacoma grocery store.
Warren’s wife told the FBI that she had seen Warren and Pease with blood on their clothing on or about Sept. 4, according to the complaint.
FBI agents were interviewing Warren’s ex-wife in Forks on Sept. 19 when they were approached by Warren, who asked if they were there “because of the missing girl,” special agent Scott wrote in the complaint.
Warren agreed to be interviewed at the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, where he admitted that he was present when Jackson was killed, Scott said.
Warren told the FBI in subsequent interviews that Pease and Jackson used methamphetamine on the way to the Tacoma grocery store and that Pease wanted to go somewhere to “pop a couple rounds off,” Scott said.
Warren told investigators that Pease drove him and Jackson to a wooded area, grabbed a can of police-grade pepper spray from the back of the vehicle and sprayed Jackson when she turned toward him, the complaint said.
“According to Warren, he could not see very good as a result [of the pepper spray] and was right there when Pease attacked the victim,” Scott wrote.
“Warren recalls that Pease pulled a bat from the back of his pants and struck the victim in the face and all about her body with an aluminum bat. Pease pulled his handgun and shot her three times,” Scott wrote.
Warren showed FBI agents where Pease allegedly tossed a .22-caliber handgun and unspent ammunition into the Puyallup River. A forensic analysis of a handgun gun and ammunition recovered from the river is pending, Scott said.
After being told that he had failed a polygraph examination, Warren told investigators that he had handed the pepper spray to Pease and helped Pease move the body after Jackson had been shot.
“Pease also told Warren to kick the victim after she had been shot, which he did,” Scott wrote.
Warren told investigators that he feared that Pease was going to harm Jackson after they left the Tacoma grocery store.
“Warren recalled that Pease’s demeanor had changed and was no longer engaging in banter with the victim,” Scott said.
Pease was driving the same Ford Explorer when he was arrested in Forks on Sept. 19, court papers said.
A woman who was riding in the vehicle told officers that Pease had recently assaulted her and caused her apparent facial injuries.
Pease was booked for investigation of fourth-degree assault with domestic violence. No formal charge was filed in that case, court records show.
In an interview with FBI agents on the day of his arrest, Pease said he had last seen Jackson getting into a man’s car after he had dropped her off at the Tacoma market.
Agents conducted another interview with Pease on Oct. 18 in which he admitted that he pepper-sprayed Jackson.
“Pease stated that Warren wielded the bat and assaulted the victim with it,” Scott said.
“The victim was still conscious and Pease shot her three times.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.