“Frustrated” laid off suspect charged with murder of boss as families grieve.
‘Frustrated’ man charged with murder after being laid off
Rodney Lee Jackson was on the phone with his father, a wanted man accused of killing his boss moments after he was laid off from work.
His father, Rodney Jackson, had refused to sign the papers that would terminate him from his job at a Houston steel distribution company, Val-Fit Inc. Authorities said he shot 40-year-old Jason Yanko several times, killing him. And then, officials said, he fled in a company car.
The son said his father told him he escaped “to clear his head.”
Jackson eventually turned himself in to authorities in the West Texas town of Fort Stockton.
Family had just moved
On Tuesday, the elder Jackson was back in Houston, appearing in a courtroom at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse on a murder charge. A judge set his bail at $50,000.
Rodney Lee Jackson was at the courthouse for his father, but could not be in the courtroom because his denim capri pants were a violation of the dress code.
His voice catching, the son said he is sorry for the Yanko family’s loss. He said he keeps Yanko’s family in his prayers. But, he said he has also “lost a person” — his father, who could get up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
“By me being his oldest son, my heart goes out to your family,” said the 22-year-old after he was asked if he was planning on reaching out to Yanko’s family.
Rodney Lee Jackson said his father told him he did not mean to kill Yanko — it was “just so much frustration built up on him.” Jackson had worked at the company for more than a year, and his son said he liked it there.
“He’s a good person, it’s just, everyone has a breaking point,” said Rodney Lee Jackson.
Yanko had been a branch manager at Val-Fit. He had been working in Houston since January, making frequent weekend visits to his wife and three children in Georgia. The weekend before Yanko was killed, his family had moved to the Houston area, said his wife, Michelle Gray Yanko. She said she has gotten an “outpouring of support and love” from people in the aftermath of his death.
A ‘valiant human being’
Authorities said after Jackson was told he was being laid-off on June 23, he went to his car and got a gun. He asked Yanko if he could come back inside the building, and when Yanko denied him, authorities said he shot him multiple times.
“What happened, and the way he stood in front of that door and saved other people’s lives, I mean that, as hard as it is to imagine, Jason is just that kind of valiant human being who is going to try to make things right and do things right,” Michelle Yanko said.
She met Jason in November 2006 while they were both working for the same company. She had traveled from Idaho to Alabama, where Jason was based, for work training. They had an “instant connection” and got married on June 28, 2009. A year and a half ago, the couple adopted three biological siblings.
“He was the kind of man that kids should have as a father,” Yanko said shortly after her husband died.
She described Jason as the “most selfless, honorable, kind, gentle, giving, loving man” whose whole life was “about making sure everybody else was OK.” She said her favorite memory of Jason is “everything.”
“And of course everything makes me think of him,” Michelle said. “Just normal stuff, laughing and joking, all of his little sayings. You know what he would always say if we were trying to make a decision or if I was trying to decide if I wanted to wear this or do that, or whatever it may be. I think to most people he would just say, ‘if that’s what makes you happy.’”
Trying to ‘roll with it’
Rodney Jackson’s mother, Mary Jackson, said her son lived with her for a while before moving to Houston. She has not seen him since he moved. A relative who refused to identify herself over the phone said the family is “upset and saddened” by what happened that afternoon at ValFit.
“Our prayers are with the victim’s family,” the relative said.
Back at the courthouse, Rodney Lee Jackson was standing in his red shirt, watching his father in the courtroom through a window. He did not get the chance to make eye contact with him. He said seeing his dad inside hurt.
“But, you know, as people always say,” he said, “you gotta pick up the stones and roll with it.”