Children discover mother’s body after fatal shooting at Tyler apartment

TYLER– Records show that two children found their mother’s body and alerted an adult after an apartment shooting on Jan. 6.

According to our news partner, KETK, Tyler Police Department officers responded to an apartment in the 9000 block of Bellwood Lake Road and spoke with Cheyenne Russell’s roommate, who found her dead on a couch underneath a blanket with blood on her face.

The roommate told a Tyler PD detective that Russell had moved into the apartment with her children on Jan. 5. The roommate said she left the apartment at around 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, and that she was texting Russell throughout the day. Arrest documents show that Jorian Jackson, 29 of Plano, was at the apartment that day to drop off some Christmas presents to a child of his and Russell’s.

“Russell texted [the roommate] that Jackson was questioning their relationship and why they broke up approximately one year ago,” the documents said.

The roommate told officials that the victim and Jackson had a rough relationship prior. Tyler PD confirmed that Russell’s last text to her roommate was sent at 1:50 p.m. on Jan. 6. The roommate also showed the detective their call history, and at 2:15 p.m. that day, she was on the phone when she walked into the apartment.

Russell’s roommate reported to officials that they saw Russell covered up on the couch with a blanket and assumed that she was still sleeping because they had stayed up late.Then, when she was in their own room, still on the phone, Russell’s oldest child came in and said their mom was dead. The roommate told investigators she ended her call, went into the living room, removed the blanket from Russell’s face, saw the blood and called 911.

Russell’s children were taken to the Child Advocacy Center and in a forensic interview they said Jackson and Russell were fighting. One child reportedly told interviewers that “daddy caused the ‘red’ on mommy’s dress” before she started coughing and choking. Crime scene investigators found five shell casings and three entry wounds on Russell’s body including one wound between her eyes on the bridge of her nose, Jackson’s arrest affidavit showed.

Jackson was on the run for two weeks after Russell’s body was discovered, and had been spotted in Waco on Jan. 7. However, on Wednesday as Tyler PD served a search warrant at his grandparent’s house in town, and they located him there. Jackson was arrested for murder and is being held at the Smith County Jail on a $1 million bond. His grandparents Carolyn Johnson, 75 of Tyler, and Willie Johnson, 75 of Tyler, were both arrested on Wednesday morning for hindering apprehension.