Case Profiles #92
Jasper Howard
Jasper Howard was born on January 28th, 1989 in Miami, Florida, and grew up with a life of hardships that he worked hard to overcome. His mother, JoAngila, was a devoted and hardworking woman who raised Jasper and his two younger sisters alone, working many jobs to keep them afloat. Despite the difficulties presented to him, Jasper was kind and had ambitions of becoming a football player professionally to make enough money to get his sisters and mom out of the dangerous neighborhood they grew up in. Jasper became the first member of his family to go to college, attending the University of Connecticut where he played football just as he had hoped. He shined in his sophomore season and became one of “the most explosive punt returners.” In October of 2009, he had been having a great season and was on track to get potential looks from the NFL.
Unfortunately, all that would change on the evening of October 17th and into the morning of October 18th, 2009, when a fight broke out during the homecoming dance. Jasper and some of his teammates were celebrating their big homecoming win over Louisville when some people attending the dance who were not students made some vulgar comments about a woman, which led to a fight. One local man grabbed a knife and swung at Jasper, stabbing him once in the abdomen. After being rushed to the hospital, Jasper died of his injuries. The next day, October 19th, a man named Johnny Hood was arrested and charged with interfering with an officer and breaching the peace. Fortunately, his arrest and witness account, along with other witnesses, led to the arrest of 21-year-old John Lomax III, who was not a UConn student. He was subsequently charged with murder and conspiracy to commit assault. Two other men were arrested in connection with the fight, but not on murder charges. In January of 2011, John Lomax III pleaded no contest to first degree manslaughter charges and in March of that same year, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Tameika Mayo
Tameika Mayo was just 15-years-old at the time of her murder. She had a twin sister who was truly her built in best friend and they were attached at the hip. Tameika was kind, hard working and an incredible basketball player. She was a great team player and was described as a basketball star, especially on her team at A.I. Prince Vocational Technical High School. Tameika was last seen in the North End of Hartford heading to the movies on a Friday night with her friends, but went missing after she hadn’t returned home. Her body was found on March 11th, 1990 at the bottom of an embankment in a secluded area of Rocky Hill. She had been strangled with a neck tie and sexually assaulted. There were a string of murders of multiple other young women in the Hartford area, and it is believed that Tameika’s murder is likely tied to the murders of Patricia Thompson and Carla Terry.
Patricia Thompson was 22-years-old and lived in Hartford, Connecticut when she was murdered and then dumped in Keney Park in Hartford behind the horse stables of the police department. Her body was found on November 27th, 1988. Carla Terry was 28-years-old and lived on Barbour Street near Keney Park and her body was found on January 13th 1991, at the Mark Twain Drive Extension. She had been dumped in a snow bank and was partially wrapped in a black trash bag. All three women were fatally strangled as well as sexually assaulted and all women were murdered in one location before being dumped in another. 42-year-old Albert Swinton was questioned in relation to Carla’s murder after witnesses said they had seen them together, and he had said that he knew of all three women in addition to Deirda Dancy and Mary Shirley, whose body was badly decomposed and investigators were unable to determine a cause of death. Despite Tameika being only 15-years-old, Albert said that she had a fake ID that she used to get into bars and this is where he had interacted with her and even bought her drinks. Albert was convicted of Carla’s murder in 2001, but was exonerated in 2017 as the bite mark evidence used for the conviction was found to be faulty. All of the women’s murders remain unsolved. Tameika’s twin sister and her family continue to advocate for her murder to finally be solved all of these decades later, with her twin sister using Facebook to make sure Tameika is not forgotten. Anyone with any information on the murder of Tameika Mayo is asked to please call the Connecticut Cold Case tip line at 866-623-8058.
Image sources:
today.uconn.edu - “Campus Mourns Death of Student-athlete”
facebook.com - “What Happen to Tameika D. Mayo”