Donny Jackson Leavenworth Kansas father arrested after two sons found dead, two daughters abducted. Man was amid divorce proceedings with wife Tara.
A Kansas father has been arrested almost 500 miles from his home after being accused of killing his two sons at the family residence — and then abducting their young sisters, who were found with him and safely rescued, according to authorities.
Donny Jackson, 40, was arrested across state lines in Oklahoma, Saturday after a truck driver spotted his Honda Accord following an Amber Alert over the two missing girls, 3-year-old Aven and 7-year-old Nora, officials said.
Jackson —assumed to be armed and dangerous — was eventually pulled over near Erick by Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers just before 7 p.m., authorities said.
‘His 2 children that were with him are safe,’ OHP said on Facebook of the two missing girls.
The rescue came almost six hours after the alarm was raised when a relative found the girls’ brothers, aged 11 and 14, dead at the family home in Leavenworth.
Macabre crime scene at family home
A press conference led by Maj. James Sherley of the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the missing father was the suspected killer.
Before the bodies had been found, Jackson had been stopped for a routine traffic violation — but was allowed to carry on with his daughters, who had yet to be reported as missing, Sherley said.
Less than an hour later, the relative stumbled on the macabre scene at the family home while checking up on why one of the youngsters had failed to show for a soccer game, Sherley said.
Officials did not detail how the boys — identified by the Kansas City Star as Logan Jackson, 14, and Austin Jackson, 11 — were killed, or how long their bodies were there before being discovered.
Previous dealings with police
Maj. Sherley said the sheriff’s office previously ‘had dealings’ with Jackson, without specifying what for.
He said ‘there had been some back and forth with family’ and investigators were ‘trying to determine what went on with the family dynamic that got us to this point.’
The killings and abductions come as Jackson is in the middle of divorce proceedings with estranged wife Tara Jackson, the mother of the four children. Photos of the kids used in an online fundraiser suggest the estranged couple had a baby, too.
Charges had yet to be filed against Jackson as of early Sunday afternoon.
A GoFundMe fundraiser meant to support the mother as of Sunday night had raised $23,530 raised of a $25,000 goal.
