Unseen - 5-Year-Old Solves Her Mom's Murder | The Case of Britney & Crystal | UNSEEN

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

“I hid so he wouldn’t see me.” -- March 7th 2014, the bodies of a young couple Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson are discovered behind a convenient store dumpster, Port Bolivar, Texas. With very little clue of when and where the murder happened, the police visit their fathers, who have been both furiously against their relationship. Both struck by the news and dissolved in tears, could one of them be hiding a twisted secret? But what the detective doesn’t know is that Crystal's 5 year old daughter Zaniah, who was hiding in the car at the time of the murder, might have seen it all. External Footage From: "A Father's Journey To Forgiveness (FOX26 - FOX News)", "See No Evil - I Loved My Daughter (Arrow - ID)", "Someone You Tought You Knew - The Secrets (October Films - ID)", "The Wrath Of God Is Fixed To Fall Upon You (True Crime Daily)", "True Life: Crime - Religious Killing Or Rage? (Left/Right - MTV)". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you come sit right here for me? So you said when you were sitting in a car you heard something? I heard something so I thought it was a strange. Where did it sound like it was coming from? Yeah, it was like going like, like, like somebody was laser somebody? Like somebody was lasering something? Is he a big like me or little like you? He's tall.

He's tall. This is five-year-old Zanaya Jackson. A few days before this was recorded, Tenae's mother was found dead alongside her longtime girlfriend on a remote island near Houston, Texas. During the interview, the little girl claimed to have seen a stranger entering her house that morning, but detectives didn't believe her. Instead, they became convinced that the victim's own father was behind the double murder. This is your daughter. What happened? That's what we're trying to find out.

I don't want to look at me as a suspect. Why would somebody want to do this to them? I've been answering myself that question, too. Surprised that the detectives would consider him as suspect, the father tried to reason with them. But the lieutenant in charge of the investigation wouldn't have it. On the contrary, in about 10 seconds, he's going to snap at him. He had the Supreme Fripeat out of it. Brittany had her brains, f***ing in.

You fucking explain that. You fucking explain it. Look at this camera and show some remorse. Do you remember that day Zayanaia? Tell me what you remember. Houston, Texas, March 8th, 2014. The police are at the residence of Reverend Ivan Jackson and his wife, Mary. They have dire news concerning the disappearance of their 24-year-old daughter, Crystal.

From the next room, Zanaya, Crystal's five-year-old daughter, can hear her grandparents crying. I have two dead people at the back room in my store by my dumpster. When they told me that my baby was dead, it hurt me. I'd never been hurt as bad as I was hurt that day. Are they male or female, could you tell? I'd one appears to be a woman. I never dreamed that I would have to bury my own child.

I couldn't do nothing but go to the house and hug my granddaughter. At the other end of the city, Brittany's aunt, Ebony McQuaid, is getting ready to go out when she notices that her phone has received an unusually high number of notification. I remember just getting dressed, and I just happened to go to Facebook, and I had messages galore. I'm like, what's going on? Clicked on one of the messages, and he was just like, say friend, I think they found your niece and her girlfriend dead.

Shocked by what she was reading, Ebony put on the news on her TV. I went to Channel 13, and that was the first place I've seen was her and Crystal. Murder mystery tonight on the Bolivar Peninsula. How the women were killed remains a mystery. Both were African American and homosexual. Many believe the women were targeted because of their sexual orientation. I was just numb. And I just remember calling my brother and I'm like, what happened?

Brittany's father, James Cosby, barely had enough time to process the information before Ebony called him. A few hours before the story hit the newsstands, the police went to his house and informed James of his daughter's passing. What's going on? Are you the father? Yes. What happened?

You just have to see you. What happened? That's what we're trying to find out. What happened? You read all the degree we understand. Right now we want to find who did this. The girl with Ritney, real thin. That's a girlfriend.

That's a girlfriend. It's Crystal. It is Crystal. The cause of their death remained under investigation. But Brittany, James' daughter and Crystal's girlfriend, had been violently assaulted. For this reason, the police believed the crime had been motivated by hate against the women. As they began interviewing their families, they were surprised to learn that even Crystal's own father, Ivan Jackson, was against their relationship. I used to tell my daughter, I say, you ain't gave you the half-strain because she's just experimenting on something.

She don't know what she'd get into. So you never even was let Britney come in the house, but you never even would let Britney come in the house, When she comes in the house, you go sit right the way you're sitting. Okay. I told my daughter, I say, look, that girl going to be the caller you're dead. As a fervent preacher in a Baptist church, his religion clashed with his daughter's identity, a fact he wasn't scared to share with police when they brought his family in for questioning. A little bit about sexual orientation, but it wasn't nothing I could do because she was wrong.

I told Christian husbands. I accepted it, but he couldn't. It brought friction between both of them. Ivan's convictions and the fact that he kept repeating Crystal's homosexuality would be the cause of her death, alarmed the officers. When he realized that the police suspected him, he allowed them to question Zanaya, who had been with Brittany and Crystal on the day of their disappearance. Immediately, an officer brought the little girl into another room.

Would you come sit right here for me? Do you like to color? Dania, what is the first thing you do when you get to school? Eat breakfast. Tell me everything that happened from that morning to the time you went to sleep. The morning when I was getting ready for school and I said my mama lived in the car and me and her, my mom said stay in the car and I stayed in the car and said I was taking my mom's all off. Even at such a young age, Zanayan knew something was wrong, but at only five years old,

the police weren't certain she understood what actually happened that morning. This was until Zanaya started talking about an encounter she had with the potential suspect. I heard something so I thought it was a strange, so I just did it back. I just had me sleep little and waited like, so the stranger wouldn't see me. Unsure of what to make of Zanaya's statement, the police continued to investigate Ivan. They knew something had happened the day before Brittany and Crystal's disappearance. The girls came by the Jackson residence to pick up Zanaya, and show us. off the new car they had purchased together, but things quickly turned awry.

She wanted me to come out to see her, her new car. Me being stubborn as I am, I wouldn't even get up out of the chair. After the fight, Crystal left with Brittany and Zanaya. Her mother attempted to call her multiple times to set things right, but Crystal never answered. Later that same day, Ivan decided to take action. He was convinced something was off. He grabbed his 25 caliber handgun and headed to the Cosby's house.

My husband said he was going to go to the house and see what's going on. And if Brittany did something to Crystal, he was going to do something to her. But I told him, no, leave the gun at home. Fortunately, Mary was able to talk him out of Yoward. Ivan said that he never actually went to the Cosby residence. He never made contact with Crystal. As the days passed and the investigation staggered, the detective eventually received the girl's autopsy report, confirming that Crystal had been killed by a gunshot wound

and Brittany via blood-force trauma. They were still hoping Ivan was lying, but the ballistic report proved otherwise. The bullet that hit his daughter was of a higher caliber than his own gun. Finally cleared of the accusation, Ivan couldn't help but look back at the reasons why the police were convinced he committed the crime in the first place. I carry a lot of guilt in me because the things I should have said to my daughter I didn't say when I had the chance, watching them put my baby in that vault and have to leave her at that cemetery. It was the hardest thing that ever happened to me. I took plenty of bodies to the cemetery, but I never had to leave a child at the cemetery. Sadly, both funerals were organized on the same day, pushing the couple apart, even in death.

And despite not mentioning their significant others during the services, those who truly knew them knew they deeply loved one another. You can tell they loved each other. You can tell that they cared out of the well-being of Crystal's daughter. She derived a lot of joy and purpose from the family she was building with Crystal and their daughter. I think bringing really, really a love of Crystal. You know, she wants to get married. You know, she wants to be wear at Crystal forever.

With Crystal, everybody loved her. She would give you the shirt off her back. She was an amazing girl. She was, God, I miss her so much. Brittany was very outgoing. She loved family time. She loved movies. She loved pickles.

She loved to laugh. The biggest question was, who did it? Because I was just like, who would harm her? You're angry, but you're hurt at the same. time, so it's like I just wanted to get to the bottom of what happened. The investigators were back at square one now that Ivan had been cleared as a suspect. We would have a theory and then you come across something that totally throws a monkey wrench into that, so you're starting completely over.

But the detectives discovered other pieces of evidence as the case went on, including a bloody fingerprint and CCTV footage of the woman's car on the night of their disappearance. The guard stopped this vehicle. As he's talking to the driver, the driver steps out of the car. They were shocked to see that neither Brittany nor Crystal was behind the wheel. You can tell the person's height, you can tell the bill was a metal person, but the camera is so far away you can't see a detailed face. Only one thing was sure to them.

Even though Zainai claimed that a stranger came into her house while she was waiting in the car, the autopsy report convinced the police otherwise. Her skull was actually broken open. She was not only hit once in the forehead, but four extra times in the back of the head. It was definitely our feeling that it was over killed. It took somebody with such great force to break her neck with that blow that we knew it had to be anger. It had to be personal.

Detective Kitchens, a rookie on his first homicide case, was confident that whatever Zanaya saw wasn't imaginary. So he brought Brittany's dad, James Cosby, the only other person present that morning to the sheriff's office for an interview. You told me last you saw Dritton was in the midday night. No. Thursday morning. Yeah.

What time they were at Crystal Brick. The same time they usually leave every morning, it was like just a normal point. Nothing was out of the order. James seemed honest, but Kitchens was puzzled. Why did Brittany and Crystal leave without taking Zanaya to school that morning? That's the one thing that's out of the order. I was trying to figure out. That means, if normally they would take her to school,

but you have to left her that one. No, man, I know you're doing a best of the kid. And as things come up, you know, you've got me 100, so call me to that. The next day, now a week after the murders, James's family joined hundreds of grieving locals in downtown Houston for a statewide memorial. It was being held to honor Brittany and Crystal, because there had been a lot of public grief over what had happened to them. The murder in Galveston hit close to home across Texas.

Ceremonies like this one are being held in Dallas, Corpus Christi, and here in Austin. People all over Texas sympathized with James, Ebony, Ivan, Mary, and the newly orphaned Zanaya. Photos of Brittany Cosby and Crystal Jackson are surrounded by flowers and glowing lights. You really put up in a worry. On that very same day, Kitchens and his partner visited the Cosby's house. He intended to question James some more and maybe chat with Annie Lee, Brittany's great-grandmother. Once we get to Halter Street, James Cosby is actually at a vigil. So we speak with a caretaker that's watching Annie Lee Cosby.

Annie Lee's cousin, Cora Liddette, had been helping around the house for a few years. When Kitchens asked if she had noticed anything suspicious in the past week, she slowly walked out of the house, closed the door behind her, and asked the detectives to follow her into the carport. Sensing she had something important to share, Kitchens pulled out his recorder. When I looked around, I noticed that the carport was spotlessly clean, and I had never seen it clean before. Never.

Even though I had had my grandkids to move trash out of there. It was always debris, something, something that needed to be cleaned up. Looking around the carport, Kitchens saw nothing unusual until he noticed a pile of small bricks on the concrete floor. Why would there be five bricks laying here in the carport? There's got to be a purpose for them being there. And what I saw just took my breath away. There was what appeared to be four to five drops of blood on the ground. I immediately began to look even closer at that point, which is when I noticed two more drops of blood up near the door facing.

That led me to believe that we may be standing in our crime scene. Unaware of the discovery made at his house, James Cosby was still out at the memorial, answering the local news questions and praising the detectives for their diligence. You had to find out what's happening. Protectors are the dogs. They do, they're doing as much as they can, but, you know, just... Nothing yet. Towards the end of the vigil, Kitchens and his partner, Sergeant Kilburn,

arrived and arrested James in front of everyone. They ended up picking him up at was at the vigil. This is not looking good for Mr. Cosby. After the arrest, Kilburn returned to the scene and forced open the garage James had been staying in. Inside, he turned on his UV light. He couldn't believe what he saw. Everywhere we were looking, we were finding something with blood on it. We're on the carpet, on the couch, on clothes.

on clothes that were in the room. Back at the station, kitchens and his lieutenant were informed of the situation. They believed they now had enough evidence to confront him. Were you aware that we were back in the house today? Can you explain to me why or how in your room where you stay, that that carpet throughout that room and furniture throughout that room is saturated? with fresh blood. You've been in that room sleeping in that room

with your daughter's blood under carpet. I ain't seen no stain. I would see some stain. She had the Supreme beat out of it. And it's all over your room. Brittany had her brains, it wasn't long before Lieutenant Hanson's patience reached its absolute limit.

absolute limit. He simply couldn't handle James's cold and emotionless reactions. You can't explain that. You fucking explain it. That's your daughter's head smashed in. Throwed away like a garbage. This went on for over five hours. During that time, forensic scientists matched the bloody fingerprint found near the dumpsters to James. Slowly, the news tightened around the suspect. Everything points back to James Larry Cosby, And you expect us to believe that James Larry Cosby Jr. don't know. You need a man up. Finish a sentence for me.

I'm going to start a sentence. I want you to finish it. What is it? I did not do this because... I'm not finishing now. What are you going to tell us? No, I'm done. We're done.

We're done. Stand up. Hey, going back. James was merely charged with tampering with evidence, since his finger-pressed. prints only matched those found at the dump site. If the police couldn't find more clues soon, James would only face a short sentence. Around this time, Ivan started appearing on the news, talking about Crystal's passing, and how Zanaya was dealing with that.

I come home in the evening, my daughter's not there. I look at her daughter. Sometimes her daughter has nightmares, so we have her in counseling now. This was when it clicked for the detectives. Now that they had more details, Zanaya's story made more sense. The stranger she mentioned in her first interview was probably James Cosby, who had just moved back with his family at the time, so they asked Ivan to bring her back to the station for a second interview. This time, they focused on what she heard and saw to see if it matched what they had discovered. Did you ever hear anything from his room?

Tell me everything you heard from his room. A gunshot. You heard a gunshot. Tell me how you know what was a gunshot. Because he is in his room. He took them to outside in this room. Okay, did somebody tell you that or did you see that? I see that.

When she left the car to look for her mom, Zanaya must have walked into James's room, seeing the blood, and connected the dots after she learned that Brittany and her mother had been murdered. There was blood clatter in his room. Okay, tell me where the blood splinter was in his room. On his bed. You saw it on his bed? Okay. Did you see it anywhere else?

On his floor. Yeah, that's some on his floor. He just decided to kill my mother and his daughter. Based on what Zanaya had told me, I hypothesized that Crystal took Zanaya placed her into the car. At the same time on the inside of the house, James Cosby and Brittany Cosby became involved in a physical altercation, at which time James Cosby snapped and beat Brittany to death. Crystal walked back into the house and was watching this take place and immediately ran out the side door to the back of the vehicle,

which is where James Cosby, we believe, caught up with her and then shot her in the head. All along, five-year-old Zanaya Jackson was the key. The quiet little girl may not have yet understood the full extent of what had happened that morning, but she could place James at the scene with the web of the webbed. happened in hand, attacking her mother. A month later, police found Brittany and Crystal's car abandoned in a parking lot.

In the blood-soaked trunk, they found a bullet encased in the luggage rack. In Texas, it isn't necessary to prove motivation for murder cases. However, through interviews with family members and people close to the Cosby's, the detectives concluded that it all started when Britney and Crystal bought their new car together. Annie Lee Cosby had changed her will and left everything to Brittany because Britney was already taken care of everything while her dad was not president of residence. He had asked Annie to co-sign for a vehicle and she'd refused and then she turned around and co-signed a vehicle for Brittany and Crystal. And it starts to paint a picture of jealousy, pure jealousy. Today in court it was a tale of two fathers, one sentenced to life behind bars.

and the other choosing a life of forgiveness. Today Jackson's father, Reverend Ivan Jackson, attended what would be the last hearing in the case of his daughter's murder. Me and my wife and my church family, we have been praying for life without a possibility of parole instead of the death penalty because killing him is not going to bring either one of them back.

And his prayers were answered. Cosby was convicted of capital murder, an automatic sentence of life without parole. No matter what the situation, was they didn't deserve to die. It's been really tough, but on the same token that it has made me much stronger because I know I have a responsibility to do

Nan that's raised my grandbaby. It was, I cried. It's a relief. What we did for those families. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly, Big Board Bucks,

slot machine by aristocrat gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club's Toronto members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. After the case was closed, Ivan and Mary got full custody of Zanaya and Detective Kitchens became her Godfather. Every year, they celebrate Crystal and Brittany's anniversary, along with members of the Jackson family, even if it's still difficult. It's still tough. I still struggle with Crystal

Night Hill. Matter of fact, on Friday, I went to visit Crystal Grave and Brittany Grave. Therefore, when I go to put flowers on Crystal Grave, me and my wife put flowers on Britney Grave. I still have a hard time accepting it a little bit, I guess you can say. I'm angry. Admiringly, Zanaya, now a teenager, somehow found the strength within her to grow from the experience. How often do you think about mom? Almost every day. What comes to my, I just think of her smile.

In 2021, MTV sent journalist Dometti Pongo to interview the then 12-year-old girl. What do you think you might want to do? I want to be a lawyer. What kind of lawyer? I want to work with the family against the criminal. What made you want to do that? My mom. So you want to be able to help other families the way attorneys helped yours?

Yeah. Today, she wishes that anyone facing violence and loss could see that every cloud has a silver lining no matter what may happen. It's okay. Think about the bright side of it, you know? If your parent was killed, you are the reason that everybody can be happy because they have you. You like to see. Like if you cut down a tree,

you're the seed that fell on the ground. So it just sprouts up and you look just like them. That's beautiful.