COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -Saturday is the two-year anniversary of the tragic and brutal murder of a Columbus woman and her three young children. The victim’s brother is opening up about what happened as he remembers the loved ones he and his family lost.
Renzo Freeman is still mourning the loss of his sister, Jerrica Spellman and her three kids; 3-year-old King, 1-year-old Kensley and 1-month-old Kristin, who were stabbed to death by Brandon Jackson. Freeman said July 17, brings back memories.
“I would say that mourning comes…anything can bring mourning. You could see July 17th on TV and any time you see it, it’s just going to bring you back to this day. Even if it’s December 17th it’s going to take you back to this day. The mourning never stops, it never stops… It’s constant,” Freeman said.
Jackson was Spellman’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her three children. Spellman had planned to leave Jackson on the day of the murder. Jackson knew Spellman was planning to take the children with her, in order to control the situation he stabbed them. Freeman said he didn’t know how to feel when he got the phone call. Never did he think that it would be news that his sister, who he nicknamed Phoo, and three of her children had just been murdered.
“I was in Queens when my brother called me, he was right here when he called me. He called me and said ‘I got some bad news,’ and when he said I got some bad news, I thought my mama had died. He was like man Brandon killed Phoo and the kids. When he said it, it was almost like it went through one ear and shot out the other ear. I didn’t comprehend what he was saying, then he said it again ‘Brandon killed Phoo and the kids.’ That’s when it just, it’s a feeling that cannot be described,” Freeman stated.
Freeman feels he and his family only knew Jackson on a surface level.
“We knew him on the surface, just like anybody else. You can know a person for what they want you to know, but what they are dealing with inside their head, they don’t want you to know or see,” Freeman said.
Freeman told News 3 there was domestic violence in his sister’s relationship with Jackson.
“The domestic violence was there, they used to fight. Six months before that happened he went to jail for fighting my sister. We knew they were fighting, but my sister was a scrappy little person herself. I asked her I said Phoo, what did you do to that man. I asked her did you do something to him because she had a mouth on her. She was like he just wanted to fight, come to find out he was jealous, he was a jealous guy,” Freeman stated.
Spellman had four other children from a previous relationship and Freeman said the kids miss their mother and father who died of cancer.
“For my other nieces and nephews, that’s with my mom they’re having all kinds of complications dealing with their mom. My oldest niece, she’s 12 and she had a fit one day and she was just screaming saying it destroyed her belief in God,” Freeman said.
Freeman wishes his nieces and nephews still had their mother.
“To make the situation worse for the kids, my sister’s birthday was March 31. Their dad died on April 1, so going back like if he wouldn’t have done this to my sister. At least they would’ve had their mama still, at least they would’ve still had their mama. The dad died of cancer, my sister would still be here with them right now, that’s tough. These are babies 9, 10 and 12, ” Freeman stated.
Before Jackson killed himself while in jail, he wrote Freeman a letter, Freeman believes Jackson was suffering from depression.
“I’m thinking like how can this happen, how can this happen? So, I figured that he had to be depressed, it had to be oppression…had to be some kind of mental illness in order for him to do that. Especially to Kensley, Kensley was his heart,” Freeman said.
News 3 asked Freeman what he thinks his sister would say to him if she were still here.
“It’s mighty strange that you say that because I experience that. I experience that, I feel their presence and the vibe I got from their presence is ‘We okay.’ For me, that was enough for me to be able to drop some things and let some things go. Even with you standing there like this, my sister was a little bit shorter than you and that’s exactly how she used to stand,” Freeman stated.