Edwin Jackson, 82, died Feb. 9 at the Jefferson Correctional Center where he was serving life in prison without parole for the 1986 killing of Dennis Wayne Bratcher, 39, at the residence of Jackson’s ex-wife in Altamont.
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According to a July 30, 1986, story in the Gallatin North Missourian, the fatal shooting happened on an early Saturday morning, Feb. 26, at a trailer house in Altamont.
Dennis W. Bratcher, 35, was reportedly shot once in the chest by Jackson, his girlfriend’s ex-husband. He was dead when the ambulance arrived.
Jackson, 50 at that time, was taken into custody that same morning north of Warrensburg. He was arrested by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department. He was held in the Livingston County Jail in Chillicothe, in lieu of $100,000 bond. A weapon was recovered.
Officials received a call from Cheryll Jackson at 3:30 that Saturday morning 30 years ago, saying her boyfriend had been shot. According to then Daviess County Sheriff Tom Houghton, Bratcher’s body was found in an east bedroom of the trailer house, which at that time was located south of the intersection of Route 6 and J in Altamont.
Mrs. Jackson told highway patrol officials her ex-husband entered the home with a key and shot Bratcher while he and Mrs. Jackson were asleep. Jackson reportedly left immediately. She was able to provide officers with a description of her ex-husband’s car.
A coroner’s inquest was held and an autopsy revealed Bratcher had died of a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.
The Daviess County murder case was transferred on a change of venue to Grundy County. A Grundy County jury convicted Jackson of first degree murder. Jackson’s lawyer appealed the verdict, but the conviction was upheld by the Western District Court of Appeals.
Jackson was sentenced by the late Judge J. Morgan Donelson to life in prison without parole.
The Department of Corrections noted Jackson’s death in prison was due to natural causes. The newspaper report states Jackson’s residence as Cameron. At the time of his arrest, Jackson listed his address with his mother at Urbana.