MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis mother and her boyfriend will spend decades behind bars for the death of her 4-year-old daughter, whose body they hid for weeks before falsely reporting her missing.
Brittney Jackson and Jaylon Hobson pleaded guilty on November 3 in the death of Sequoia Samuels, court records show.
The Sentences
Jackson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse. She was sentenced to 62 years in prison.
Hobson pleaded guilty to solicitation of first-degree murder, filing a false report, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with or fabricating evidence. He was sentenced to 22 years.
A grand jury had first indicted both of them on first-degree murder charges in 2023.
A Fake Missing Child Report
On June 15, 2023, Memphis police issued a City Watch Endangered Child Alert for Sequoia after Jackson and Hobson reported her missing. Jackson told investigators she woke up around 7:55 a.m. that morning, found the front door of her apartment on Caldwell Avenue open, and saw that her daughter was gone.
Sequoia was described as about 3 feet tall and 30 pounds, with a feeding tube on the left side of her stomach.
Her disappearance set off a large search by several agencies. The next morning, police announced that a child’s remains, believed to be Sequoia’s, had been found in a dumpster that served the couple’s apartment complex.
What Investigators Found
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators believed Sequoia had died “several weeks” before she was reported missing.
Jackson later admitted the missing report was false. She told police that Hobson had physically attacked Sequoia several times over a period of weeks, until the last attack left the little girl unresponsive. The affidavit says Hobson tried to revive her, but she never woke up, and Jackson never tried to get help for her daughter.
Investigators said the body was placed in garbage bags and kept inside the home until June 15, 2023, when it was put in the dumpster. Jackson identified photos of the bag and the container to police.
During those weeks, three other young children, ages 4, 5 and 6, were also living in the home, police said.
Boyfriend Denied Involvement
Hobson repeatedly denied having anything to do with Sequoia’s death. He claimed he last saw her alive on June 11, 2023. Police said that was “impossible” based on the condition of her remains.