Yahoo Finance Ala. Mom Who Was Tortured, Sexually Assaulted and Fatally Shot Remembered for 'Heart of Gold'
Less than a week after Mahogany Jackson’s brutal killing, her mother tells PEOPLE about her daughter’s interrupted plans
Birmingham Police Department
Mahogany JacksonMahogany Jackson had decided to dedicate herself to being the best mother she could be, a role that had been so difficult after she had her daughter as a teenager.
Always styling 3-year-old daughter's hair, she had decided to go to cosmetology school and become a stylist, her mother Gail Maddox Trotter tells PEOPLE.
But in the early morning hours of Monday, her body was found on the side of a Birmingham, Ala. road. She had died by an apparent gunshot wound.
Police say she knew her killers.
“She was full of life, she loved people,” Trotter says. “And sometimes she just loved the wrong people. That was her biggest problem: was just loving the wrong people.”
Gail Maddox Trotter
Mahogany Jackson with her daughter, Nydia now age 3.Related: 7 Accused of 'Deplorable, Heinous' Torture Death of Ala. Mom, as Police Allege Assault Was Taped
Four men and four women have been arrested and charged in connection to her alleged kidnapping, sexual assault, torture and murder, according to police.
Trotter tells PEOPLE one of the suspects lured her daughter to the apartment under the pretext of friendship.
Gail Maddox Trotter
Mahogany JacksonAlthough police have not released a motive for the killing, the chief said that Mahogany knew the suspects, who allegedly videotaped portions of her last hours.
At a press conference Wednesday, Police Chief Scott Thurmond called the video clips “a pivotal piece of the investigation.”
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Now, Mahogany’s mother says someone is selling those gruesome clips online.
The case is a tragic end, Trotter says, to a life that the young mother was trying so hard to get on track.
“She had a heart of gold,” Trotter says, adding that a former neighbor reached out to her recalling how a younger Mahogany would sneak her food from her own home because she knew she did not have enough at home. “She would give you her last.”
Gail Maddox Trotter
Mahogany Jackson's daughter, Nydia, age 3.In December, Mahogany texted her, saying ‘I’m 20 and I’m ready to get my life in order,’” Trotter tells PEOPLE, adding: “She was just trying to get things in order to be a better mother for her daughter.”
In the months that followed, Mahogany tried to distance herself from the friend group whose members are now accused of killing her. She became closer to her cousins, who were helping her find a stable job to help support her daughter, Nydia.
But on Sunday at 7:46 a.m., Trotter got a very different text message from her daughter.
“Send the police apt 3 held hostage don’t call,” Mahogany messaged her on Facebook in a message confirmed to PEOPLE by police.
Mahogany also contacted a sister and cousin and sent her location.
Birmingham Police Department
Mahogany JacksonTrotter was en route to pick up her son in Georgia when she saw the message and called her niece to help. Trotter told her niece she had a bad feeling: “It’s not good,” she said.
Those text messages, her mother says, eventually helped lead to arrests after Mahogany's killing.
“If she had not done that, we would not have found her,” Trotter said.
Gail Maddox Trotter
A baby photo of Mahogany JacksonOn Thursday, some 100 people gathered outside of the apartment building where Mahogany had texted her mother and released dozens of pink balloons in honor of the young woman her mother remembers as a “colorful person.”
Mahogany, who would have been 21 in April, was the second youngest of nine children.
“It did my heart good to see so many come out to support her,” Trotter says. “And to show her love in the way that they did, but when I saw the balloons released, it just did something inside of me.”
Gail Maddox Trotter
A vigil was held Thursday outside the Birmingham, Ala. apartment where Mahogany was held hostage Feb. 25.Trotter and Mahogany’s father — who Trotter said rushed to the apartment where his daughter was held and threatened to break down the door if police did not promptly obtain a warrant — are now coordinating a funeral, set for March 9.
Mahogany's mother and brother and his wife now plan to raise her daughter together. Nydia still does not understand where her mother has gone, Trotter says.
“She has asked about her,” Trotter says. “I just told her that her mom is an angel."
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