Jury selection starts for Cedar Rapids man accused of killing his family

CEDAR RAPIDS — Jury selection started Tuesday for a former University of Iowa student who told police he awoke to the sound of gun shots and struggled over a rifle with a masked intruder when officers found the bodies of his father, mother and sister June 15, 2021.

Alexander Ken Jackson, 22, is on trial this week for three counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of fatally shooting his father, Jan Perry Jackson, 61; mother, Melissa Ferne Jackson, 68; and sister, Sabrina Hana Jackson, 19, in their northeast Cedar Rapids home early that morning.

Investigators found no evidence of a forced entry or burglary at the 4414 Oak Leaf Ct. NE home, according to a criminal complaint. The complaint did indicate a possible motive by stating Jackson denied shooting his family members but “admitted his father had recently advised that he needed to find a job or move out of the residence.”

The trial is expected to go into next week. The potential jurors filled out questionnaires Tuesday and the prosecution and defense will start questioning the jury panels Wednesday.

Testimony could begin Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint, Cedar Rapids police officers were called at 8:23 a.m. June 15, 2021 to the home by Alexander Jackson, who told the 911 dispatcher he and his father had been shot by a masked male intruder.

When police arrived, they found each family member with gunshot injuries in different rooms of the house, the complaint stated.

Jackson told investigators he was asleep when the attack began, according to the complaint. The sound of gunfire woke him and he was shot in the foot while struggling with the intruder over a rifle.

A .22 caliber Browning semi-automatic rifle, which police believed to be the murder weapon, was found in the house. Jackson said he and his father had left it on the fireplace after cleaning it the night before, the complaint stated.

Both Alexander and Sabrina were students at the University of Iowa in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, according the Associated Press, and both had attended Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids.

This was the city’s first triple homicide in nearly 40 years and only the second in Cedar Rapids history, according to police.

The other one was on Nov. 15, 1982 when a mother, Jacalyn May, 29, and her sons, ages 2 and 4, were fatally stabbed. Two Cedar Rapids men — Bruce Farris, 23 at the time, was convicted and Michael Rohn, then 18, was acquitted of murder.

Gazette reporter Trish Mehaffey will provide live coverage of the trial from the courtroom as soon as testimony begins.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com