Former Riverhead resident Gabriel Jackson of North Augusta, South Carolina was found dead Tuesday night in McDuffie County, Georgia.
Jackson, 32, went missing Aug. 10 and was last seen leaving his apartment complex.
Law enforcement officials in Georgia said preliminary information leads them to believe a body found by a deputy sheriff on patrol last night in Thomson, Georgia is Jackson, but they will not issue a positive identification until after an autopsy is finalized, according to Patrick Morgan, special agent in charge at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. No additional information was provided by the agent.
A murder warrant has been issued for Sanriquez Antonio Williams, 21, of Dearing, Georgia, who is wanted in connection with the investigation into the discovery of Jackson’s body Tuesday night, according to the McDuffie County sheriff’s office.
Jackson was the father of a 3-year-old son, Gabriel III. He and his longtime partner Sha’Quasia Freeman are also expecting twins.
“You will always be my First & Last LOVE of my LIFE I truly don’t know what I’m gonna do without you this still unreal to me still don’t believe your gone,” Freeman wrote on Facebook.
Jackson moved to South Carolina with Freeman, his mother JoAlice Hunt and brother Tylete Hardin, hoping to find a more affordable place to live, his aunt Bernice Brown of Riverhead said in a phone interview Wednesday evening.
“They are a very close-knit family,” Brown said. “My nephew was a great dad. He absolutely adored his son. He loved being a dad,” she said.
The family is devastated, she said. Jackson would have celebrated his 32nd birthday on Monday.
“When he didn’t come home on Monday and he didn’t call his mother, I knew something was deadly wrong,” Brown said.
Jackson was a 2006 graduate of Riverhead High School, where he played on the varsity basketball team. His 6’8” height earned him the nickname “Stretch.” His friends and family also called him “Pookie.”
His death left family and friends reeling. His cousin, Nedra Love has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to help with funeral costs.
“We’d like to bring him home,” Brown said.
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