Murder charge dropped against West Palm man in 2008 stabbing
WEST PALM BEACH — On Monday, 27-year-old Erik Jackson was to face trial on a first-degree murder charge in the 2008 stabbing death of Irma Simeus, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of an abandoned car in the Westgate community outside West Palm Beach. Instead, Jackson is a free man. The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office on Friday dropped the charge that has kept the West Palm Beach man behind bars for more than a year. A spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why the charge was dropped, saying only “it was the appropriate and ethical thing to do.”
But, the case isn’t over. One of Jackson’s former friends, 29-yearold Thaddeus James, is still awaiting trial in Simeus’ brutal death. His DNA matched that found on Simeus’ body, investigators said.
Charite Simeus, whose daughter was killed, said she didn’t know prosecutors had dropped the charge against Jackson. “I can’t bring my daughter back,” she said. “I just want peace now.”
The slaying remained unsolved until it was revived in 2015 by cold case investigators at the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office. Detectives got a break in February 2016 when Erik Jackson’s former girlfriend called them from the St. Lucie County jail, saying she knew about the plan to kill Simeus.
She claimed Jackson, his brother, Quentin, and James planned to kill Simeus because she kept $60 she received from fencing goods they had stolen. Her body was discovered in the trunk of an abandoned car on Elmhurst Road in Westgate. She had been stabbed at least 17 times, according to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office.
In recorded phone calls, Jackson denied either he or his brother were involved in the murder. James, who was arrested in Ocala, implicated the Jackson brothers. He said they were upset Simeus hadn’t shared money from selling goods the three had stolen. Quentin Jackson, 25, wasn’t charged in her death.
Detectives said DNA on Simeus’ wrist and ankle belonged to James. Analysts said it was 5.2 billion times more likely to have come from James, according to court records.
James is to appear June 5 to tell a judge when he will be ready for trial.