Welcome to The True Crime Pod. A warning before we begin - today's episode contains discussion of gun violence and the death of a child.

A single text message. One word sent in someone's final moments. Could it be the key to solving a triple homicide that devastated a Birmingham community?

On the thirteenth of July, two thousand and twenty-four, what seemed like a routine call about a car accident would lead police to a horrific discovery at Echo Highlands Park. Inside a blue Nissan Maxima, riddled with bullet holes, lay the bodies of three victims - twenty-eight-year-old Arkia Berry, known to friends as Kia, her five-year-old son Landyn Brooks, and twenty-eight-year-old Eric Ashley Junior.

The scene painted a tragic picture. The car had jumped the curb, Kia's body stretched across the center console, her son in the back seat, and Eric in the passenger seat. But this was no accident - investigators would find between twenty to thirty shell casings scattered nearby.

But perhaps the most chilling piece of evidence was a final text message sent from Kia's phone at five-ten in the afternoon. One word: 'Jaco.'

Surveillance footage from a nearby home would prove crucial, showing a lime green Kia Soul arriving just before the victims' Nissan. The distinctive vehicle was found the next day - engulfed in flames. When police traced the vehicle's VIN number, they discovered it had been stolen days earlier, though the theft was never reported.

The investigation took a significant turn when detectives uncovered communications between Eric Ashley and someone saved in his phone as 'Jaco' and 'Jac.' These messages revealed plans for a meeting, though no specific time was mentioned. The number matched one belonging to Jacorian Deshawn McGregor, a twenty-five-year-old local man.

Cell phone records would later confirm both Eric's and McGregor's phones connecting to the same tower near Echo Highlands Park at the time of the shooting. But perhaps most telling were the messages found on McGregor's phone after the incident - friends warning him to 'lay low, stay out of sight, stay hidden.'

In February, seven months after the shooting, police arrested Jacorian McGregor. While his attorney argues the evidence is purely circumstantial, a judge has ordered him held without bond, and the case will proceed to a grand jury.

Three lives were tragically cut short that summer afternoon - a mother, her young son, and her boyfriend. Was Kia's final text message her way of naming her killer? The justice system will now decide.

If you or someone you know has information about this case, please contact the Birmingham Police Department. For resources and support related to gun violence, visit our website at thetruecrimepod.com. Remember to subscribe to The True Crime Pod wherever you get your podcasts, and join us next week for another investigation into the cases that shake our communities to their core.