Killer ends her search for a life

Jean Jackson was a lost soul, looking for someone or something to believe in.

She had a rough start to life - the youngest of seven from a broken home, sent off to live in foster care in Massachusetts.

She struggled to find her place in life as an adult, had a son in her early 20s and then put him in foster care when he was 9, her family said.

Two years ago, she was living in a community shelter in Lawrence, Mass., still hoping to find a direction in life.

Instead, she found Eric Johnson, a younger guy with a history of violent assaults and domestic abuse, cops said.

Unaware of his previous dust-ups with the law, Jackson threw herself into forming a relationship with Johnson and eagerly opted to move to Philadelphia, his hometown, last September. It was a fatal decision.

"I disagreed with the move, but she was trying to find a niche and develop a relationship," her older brother, Jim Jackson, 48, said of his sister. "She did what she wanted.

"I talked to her when she left with him," Jackson said. "[Johnson] got on the phone and told me he was going to take care of her, but I knew it was a line of crap."

Jackson and Johnson settled in a home on Clearfield Street near Emerald, in Kensington, and Johnson, 36, lived off his girlfriend's Social Security checks, said Homicide Sgt. Anthony McFadden.

In February, Jackson, 40, was arrested on prostitution charges, according to court records.

Shortly after, Johnson, through a phone-chat service, began cultivating a relationship with a woman living on the outskirts of Boston.

The new woman in Johnson's life was due to arrive in town last Thursday. Cops said Johnson decided to rid himself permanently of his live-in love.

With stunning brutality, Johnson allegedly murdered Jackson in their home and then dumped her body in a nearby wooded area. Investigators said Johnson broke Jackson's collarbone and legs, crushed her ribs and attempted to mutilate her face.

He was arrested on murder charges Monday afternoon.

In what detectives call a clear attempt to prevent the woman from being identified, Johnson stuffed Jackson's hands into latex gloves and covered her head in a plastic bag and pillowcase before dumping her body. The gloves, McFadden said, sped up the decomposition process.

"It made it very difficult to fingerprint her," he said. "If we didn't get to her when we did, it would have been almost impossible."

McFadden said he sent a nationwide notice alerting other police departments about Johnson.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he had done this before," McFadden said. "The way he left her body and tried to clean up afterwards suggests he's familiar with how to do this."

The tragedy stunned Jackson's family in Massachusetts. "We're all numb," Jim Jackson said. "Why didn't he just tell her to leave? Why did he try to erase her from the earth?" *