Faces life in prison without the possibility of parole; Richmond PD Detectives solve case
By Allen Payton
On September 26, a Contra Costa County jury found defendant Jonathan Jackson (37 years old) of Richmond, California guilty of four felonies, including the murder of Sun Kwo, an elderly woman. The jury also found Jackson guilty of kidnapping Kwo to commit rape, forcible rape and sexual penetration by foreign object.
On January 28, 2012 in the early morning hours, Kwo was found nearly lifeless at the Big O Tires along San Pablo Avenue in Richmond. Jackson committed the heinous attack against her at that business in an alcove. This alcove was recessed from the storefront and hid the victim from the view of any passerby. According to an ABC7 News report, “when officers arrived, they found 82-year-old Sun Kwon of Richmond barely conscious, bloodied and lying next to a pile of discarded tires. Kwon, a grandmother of six, was sexually assaulted, beaten and suffered major head injuries.”
Six months later she unfortunately succumbed to her injuries inflicted on her by the defendant. The Richmond Police Department investigated the case.
According to a post on the Richmond Police Department’s Facebook page, “This was strong collaborative work by the detectives at the Richmond Police Department and the team at Pittsburg Police Department, Pittsburg, CA. Huge shout out to our detectives and their ongoing effort to keep Richmond safe.”
Initially, no suspect was identified at the time of the brutal attack. In 2016, Jackson was arrested for a felony offense by the Pittsburg Police Department triggering the collection of a DNA sample from him. Jackson’s DNA profile was entered into CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System which is a database that has been pivotal in solving countless criminal cases. Jackson’s profile matched a profile submitted by the Richmond Police Department from evidence they collected at the time of the crime. Richmond Police detectives resumed their investigation and solved the case.
“This day has been a long time coming; justice was finally served in this case thanks to the hard work of the Richmond Police Department, the patience of the victim’s family and the thoughtfulness of the jury who listened to all of the evidence,” Deputy District Attorney Aron DeFerrari stated. “In the end, the justice system is about shining a light on the truth, today that happened, and that is a good thing.”
Jackson now faces a maximum sentence life without the possibility of parole in state prison. Sentencing will occur on December 13, 2019 in front of the Honorable Rebecca Hardie – Department 5 of the Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez.
The District Attorney’s office will not release how a victim may know a defendant in a sexual assault case. They don’t release the name of a victim to protect their confidentiality. However, previous news reports did release her name and photo.
Case information: People v. Jonathan Jackson, Docket Number 05-170598-7
Scott Alonso, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa District Attorney was the primary contributor to this report.
Kill this MFer