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It's one of the most brutal murders that I've seen. Dodge had four bullet holes in the back of his head. That's a vicious act. He was beat. You got him naked, tied to a chair. Yeah, he was tortured. And I mean, he was real bad. That's the one thing that gets me about this case in general is this guy ran terrified to his death. Somebody on that street saw something. It's been four years, nobody has said anything.
This was the last known place that my daughter was seen. Keisha Jacobs, she was 21 years old at the time of her disappearance. There has been a person of interest in this case. He was convicted of another crime in that house, strangulation of a woman. The girl was tied to this bed. The red flags have got to be going up all over the place. Abduction. This is our guy. Let's say he is a predator. I believe he gave her to someone. I believe my daughter's out there somewhere.
Vinnie Ferriella was found hanging inside his exotic pet shop in Chester. No one knows what happened. How can you say suicide and refute what the medical examiner's saying, and they say it's a homicide? Some people think that he killed himself. It's just crazy to me because he just loved his family so much.
Faith First reached out to me. She was 16 years old, and when she turned 20, she hit me up again. She's, "Mr. Burkett, what can we do to reopen my dad's case?" It doesn't add up to me, and it never has. My dad deserves justice. Oh, my word is for my baby to come home. He was a wonderful father, and it's sad that my grandson only got two years for his father. He was his only, his only daughter, and he loved us more than anything in the entire world. I just missed my dad.
There are thousands of cold cases in Virginia, and only one percent ever get solved. Just pull some asses. I just want to know what happened to my son. I really miss him so much. He was a child, and he was a baby. I don't want to die not knowing what happened to my brother. We were wondering, still wondering, where is she? Whether she's dead or alive. Only thing we want is justice, and that's all I can say.
Nationwide, 240,000 unsolved murders. Virginia accounts for more than 5,000 of those cases. Cold case detectives like Johnny Capacelli spend countless hours reviewing interviews and old evidence, all in an effort to heat things up and bring closure to victims' families. I think we have an obligation to, to victims and the family of victims, to do everything possible as technology, investigative science evolves, to bring those tools to bear to address those investigations and see if we can't get closure for those people. Like the angel from heaven. You don't have to say anything to me, okay? You know, I'm not quitting, right? Cold cases work. It's just something that's always been close to my heart because, you know, I, I sat in the room with the family. And the very first one we did in Chesterfield County in 2000 and 6, I believe, and I've never felt that amount of emotion in my life, watching the family of our victims crying and telling us, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for never putting this away." So it was a pretty impactful moment in my career. People realize how tough it is to work on these cases and what you guys do. This is that one shot for the family to find peace and closure about what's happened to a loved one. But she's looking at you to bring some closure to this thing. And I know a lot of parents are feeling the same thing that I'm feeling. There's a lot of parents out here who kids been gone longer than mine, and they don't have no information. They don't know nothing, and they're just sitting back waiting. All I want is for my baby to come home, and I don't know what happened.
Just these are the faces of loved ones who suffered some of the most violent crimes or disappeared without a trace. Their families are still waiting for answers. Our mission is to bring awareness to these cases, to find out what happened. In this documentary, we'll focus on a daughter, father, and a son. I'd have had like so many people coming to mistake us. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to make it through my situation. I look at you, you inspired me. I was like, y'all just don't know what goes on behind my doors. The days I cried, the days that I can't get out, I don't want to get out of bed. But there's always something in the back of my head like, "You got to get up." And if Keisha, if you can hear me, I love you with all my heart and soul, and Mommy misses you, and I'm never giving up, baby.
Keisha was dropped off here by one of her friends about September the 26th. Keisha Jacobs, she was 21 years old at the time of her disappearance. I specifically remember Mom telling me that her daughter would not run away, even though police had said, "Well, she's an adult, she can go and come if she pleases." Mom was, was adamant about, "This is not my daughter. My daughter and I communicate. Even if, even if we have a rough patch or an argument, we still communicate." So she was very worried about her daughter and thought something had happened to her. So Wednesday came that evening. I'm sitting in my living room, my son and a couple of my friends, and I get a knock on the door. It's Keisha Prince. Um, the guy Demarcus who dropped her off at the house over on Broad, on Broad Street, and a couple other friends. So I said it was like five or six of them. Then they proceeded to tell me that, "Hey, we went to the house that we dropped Keisha off at, and the guy said that he didn't, she wasn't there." I was like, "So you did, what, what house is this?" So I was very upset and was like, "Take me to this house." So I made them show me exactly where this house was, which was like maybe a few hours after they had already been to this home. So I was furious because that guy could have had any enough time to do anything he wanted to do with my daughter by the time we got here.
The initial detective on the case was Detective Billy Thompson at RPD until he retired about a year ago. Right now, they're kind of taking a two-prong approach. You have a homicide detective assigned to it and a missing person's detective assigned to it. The missing person's detective is, uh, Clarence Key, and the homicide detective assigned is Anthony Coates. How important is this house in this investigation? It was very, very important. A lot of evidence was recovered inside and outside. So that's where we're at. That's where we're at. The person that was here answered the door, and he said, "Yeah, he knew Keisha, but he knew Keisha through one of her friends." Um, he said he saw her first. He said it was at five o'clock. I told him that wasn't right. Then he changed it to 5:30, and then he changed it to six. And then I proceeded to call the police to let them know that his story wasn't adding up. And this was the last known place that my daughter was seen.
After about a year of doing stories on Keisha's disappearance, I learned of a person of interest name. We were reluctant to report it at the time because RPD asked us not to. But now, five years into this thing, almost six years, his name is Otis Tucker. Um, that he went by Omar, but yeah, his name was Otis Tucker. My most concern at this point is him doing it to somebody else. Otis has been questioned by the police but not officially charged for the disappearance of Keisha Jacobs. He is also convicted of a crime in that house, strangulation of a woman, and also bodily harm. He was accused of rape, but that charge was dropped due to a plea deal. If you can tell me about, there was another person this guy was arrested for and ended up serving time for. The person of interest is, uh, I would probably say he is a predator. The woman in that case actually talked to one of our producers via Facebook Messenger. Here's what she said.
But this is what's crazy. After he attacked me, and we fist fought until he got me locked down into a position that I couldn't stop him from strangling me, and when I woke up, I was tied up. But about 30 minutes later, Keisha showed up. But he sent her away. She also said to our producer, "The only way I even got away was because I let him drug me with Remron, a psych medicine. But I have a tolerance, so it took two hours." He untied me after drugging me. I got up, got dressed, like it was nothing, and he let me leave.
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Foreign Churchill on the front sidewalk in front of the house where Keisha was last seen. We were interviewing the new detectives on the case when the homeowner, Karen G, came up and asked what we were doing. And when we told her, because she has a similar story in her family of a missing person that was found dead, she offered to let us inside. "Let's get you out of this rain."
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Well, knowing that it was the last place Keisha was at, and walking into the house, definitely a sense of negative energy in the house. Uh, you know, when you walked in the main area, I remember the red carpet, maroon carpet that was out front. Upstairs was the bedroom where the person of interest was staying. Wow. Which was his room. Down there, I don't know if they've since turned the HVAC unit off, but it was really hot. So is this the bed that she was alleged to be tied to?
To the homeowner, it's pretty much almost the same way it was when Keisha disappeared, minus a few furniture items. As police shared any evidence whatsoever from that case that we know? They haven't shared much as far as evidence. We have learned through the years some of the stuff they've collected, but they've asked us not to leak it out there because obviously it could, it could ruin their case. Like, I drove by three days straight, forensics was there. So that's what I do remember of the day. Said you go up there, and the furniture van was parked out front. They were doing their thing. This is the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life. I just want my baby to come home. And if you see anything, I think you've seen her, please call. And she could be okay to me. I feel like.
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The proper stuff with the police department wasn't done from the beginning when I reported Keisha missing because it took them a whole week before they even took any interest or tried to do anything with Keisha's case. A lot of people in the community come forward, not only in Richmond but throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. We've had sightings as far as Victoria, Virginia, Dinwiddie, not away. And folks are calling us immediately after they're seeing the news coverage on the news from the 28th and one. So we just ask that people continue to call us, give us those tips, let us track down those leads, and we just thank you so much for all you're doing.
Breaking news about the disappearance of Keisha Jacobs. Richmond police say after 14 months of intense investigation, they believe foul play is involved. In the years past, I've grown to know Tony, Keisha's mom. This woman has been through a lot. She needs closure. That's, that's the boss. She needs closure for this one. And I think both me and Detective Key and Detective Thompson, we all feel the same way that, that we really like the closure. For basically, the bottom line is, you can put a case together, but we put the case together, Commonwealth Attorney prosecutes the case. So it's just a matter of what they feel that they can do with the case. So I know he gave the information to the Commonwealth Attorney, and the Commonwealth had turned in ahead. And since April, I've been calling and I've been calling and I've been calling, and they keep telling me, "This is a process." What kind of process do you need? It's going on six years. September 26th would be six years. You know, Keisha disappeared in September of 2016. Her son was murdered at the Motel 6 on Midlothian Turnpike months later. I'll never get to tell my son I love him again, and I'll never get to hear it again because I'm just pretty. He should come home so I can tell her I love her. The guy that was serving time for her son's death, the killer in her son's case, is already out and about. He's already served his time and he's out. I think the information flow in this case is sort of like a faucet, and it's starting to drip, and we're starting to see more and more information with the access that we've been given. So hopefully, in the near future, we'll be able to come to Miss Jacobs and say, "Hey, we think we can help you solve this thing."
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This, this, I don't know what's happening in this picture, but that's my dad. That's silly, goofy Vinnie, the goofiest guy I'd probably ever meet. That stance says it all. You know, life of the party. Always made everything a game. Everywhere we went, everything was fun. There wasn't a time when nothing we went out with Dad like you had a good time. He's the reason I, I, I do things that scare me. I was painfully shy growing up. He always wanted me to do things like, you know, step out of my comfort zone. And I was really lucky to have, um, 11 years with him.
Vinnie Ferriella, January 3rd, 2014, was found hanging inside this exotic pet shop in Chester. I want to say it's probably around noon, maybe 11:30 in the morning, and by 1 o'clock I start my shift. At 2:30, by 1 o'clock, I was already in. Vinnie Ferriella was a science teacher at Thomas Dale. He's well-known in the area. He's always known as the reptile guy. "Say hello to my little friend." Vinnie had swagger within the community. I mean, the kids loved him at Thomas Dale. Kids that came into his store loved him because he was very active with the snakes. We let them pet the snakes, and just a really fun, kind-spirited guy to be around. I was 11 years old. My mom came home, and like soon followed everybody else in my family, and it brought us all into the, like, the living room, and we just knew like right away something was really off. And my mom grabbed my hands and knelt down in front of me and she said, all she said was, um, "Daddy died." I just, um, I just kind of like froze. And, um, and I didn't even know, I didn't even know how to react. Actually, I just cried in my room, and I didn't really want anyone to follow me, but I just needed to be alone because I didn't know, I didn't know what to do with myself. It was big news in this town. Hearing later, a couple days later, that suicide could possibly be it. Kids would gather and seeing no way, you know, this, this guy would never do that to his family. Well, I knew he was a family man. He talked about his kids and being a teacher. I just couldn't see him committing suicide. It just did not sound right. I didn't know for like two years after we found out that he died what happened. I, I Googled it actually, and, um, and that's how I found out. I just saw everything that had been on like websites about it and everything.
Faith First reached out to me. She was 16 years old, and she reached out to me via Facebook Messenger. And I said, "Faith, I'd love to help you, but you need to be an adult. You need to get your mom's blessing." And when she turned 20, she hit me up again. She was, "Mr. Burkett, what can we do to reopen my dad's case?" And that's kind of how the balls got rolling on this. It's hard to forget Bill and Stephanie, the scene that played out here about six months ago in this parking lot. This place was packed. We have also obtained a copy of Vinnie Ferriella's death certificate. The medical examiner confirms his manner of death was homicide. You know, to see that in writing, you know, and but I'm kind of upset that this wasn't noticed before. You know, it takes six months to finally for this stuff to come out. This blood on the sink, the microwave, the back room, you know, in all different places, the ground, the floor, the countertop, everywhere there was blood. So from my knowledge, they didn't do anything. Like they didn't clean up the blood afterwards. They didn't, they didn't test the DNA, they didn't do any of that. The only thing I know about where he was is he was in the back. The door, front doors taped off, but he was in a back room, almost like a, there's like an office space in the back. That's where he was right there. That doorway. Like it was just such an abnormal thing for him, for him to do. Park out front of the store because he never did that. He, everyone, you know, worked with him knew him, like he always parked in the back of the store. Well, there's several theories floating out there. It's just a matter of which one is the right one. You know, I've heard a theory of organized crime. The devil is in the details. We don't know yet. So far, police have not officially reopened this case. He would still be here if it wasn't for whoever, whatever happened to him, whoever took him from us and uprooted our lives. And he would, he would still be my best friend, and I just, yeah, I just missed my dad. I, um, you know, walking down the aisle is a big one, because it's like, you know, he would want to do that. I was his only, his only daughter, his little girl. Called me bunny. And, um, the fact that he's not going to be able to walk me down the aisle, or if I have kids, and is that he's just not here. And he, he didn't get to be here because someone didn't give him the chance. And he loved us more than anything in the entire world. I just know, I just known anything he would want, he would want to be here for all this, for me, my family, my brothers, my mom. This is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life, but, but I, I'm doing it for my dad.
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Taj was the only son. Yes, that's my only boy. He was lovable. He was lovable. He had the most beautiful smile. We're from multiple people. He's a wonderful father. He was a wonderful father. He just said he wanted to be there for his son. He wanted to be a good father. I'm so tired of people playing God and just running around here taking people's lives like it's, it's sickness. It's no reason that he should have been done like that. I'm on stream, same man here. I'm pretty sure he's dead. We're gonna need MCU for this.
So Taj was last seen May 2nd of 2018. It's around two or three in the afternoon. Natasha's girlfriend saw him leave the house, the home that they shared on McKenzie Street. Around six or seven o'clock at night, several gunshots were heard. Taj's body was found on a porch the next morning around 8:30. Should we first? I want you to take me back to the day you learned of your son's passing. That whole entire day, I felt sick to my stomach. And then the detectives called about 3:45 and asked me, "Was he my son?" And then they said to wait, that they were gonna, they needed to come and speak to me. And then they came to my job and sat me in a room and showed me a picture on the phone and asked me, "Was that my son?" What was the picture? That was in him on that front porch. Yes.
We start with breaking news out of Petersburg, where police have just released the name of the city's latest homicide victim. Crime Insider sources say it was 22-year-old Taj Mere Hopkins, who was found naked on the front porch of a home by a neighbor. And we are told that he had been shot multiple times and was bound, beaten, and gagged. Some type of leadership, white sheet or rag or something type. My heart was around his neck. It's been four years, nobody has said anything. Even after you heard gunshots, when you know it's in the clear, at least you come outside and you look around to see, you know? So for you to just not come outside at all and look around, and because you can, if you live right across the street, I'm sure you could have seen his body. So I don't understand how nobody saw nothing. I just don't understand. And then that chair is still on the porch, and I don't understand that either. Out of all of his injuries, which one stuck out to say this was personal? Because it, it was very personal. The fact that they tied him up, the fact that you, you got him tied around the neck, like you up close, you, you got him naked. The way that his wounds were, they're very close, personal wounds to his face. He was shot four times in the head, according to the autopsy. He was bound, he was gagged, he was bloody, his face was swollen. It appears that a message was, was trying to be sent. Yes, he suffered. We were able to get documents from the courts in Chesterfield County, and it did show some sort of a beef between Taj and a man that was known to the family. So this is the last complaint that Taj Mere had against. That's your son's handwriting, right? He just was evil. If I was to find out that he was the one who did something to myself, I wouldn't be surprised. What we're doing here, what do you hope comes about? They need to get on their job. They need to get into his Facebook. Two days after he was murdered, his Facebook was shut down. It was deactivated. They could find out who he met up with, who he was talking to. They said they can't get into it. Here's where Mom believes Taj was before he was supposed to go play basketball. Taj was with the girlfriend, and then he went to a friend's house. So he messaged her from Facebook and said that he was at some boy's house, and it was a couple of guys there, and it didn't seem right. So he was supposed to had left from there and was going to VSU to play basketball. As far as you know, what have you guys been able to determine where Mr. Hopkins was prior to this location? Uh, through the course of our investigation, we found out that Mr. Hopkins went to Virginia State University on campus and played basketball with some folks, friends of his. After he finished his game, his whereabouts became unknown. Did he walk back here, or did someone drop him off? I don't have any information on his method of travel. But let's, particular time. You've been in law enforcement a long time, 32 years. You know your stuff. Travis Christian is the new chief of police down there. So there's a lot of changes. Kenneth Miller was the chief at the time. Travis was a deputy chief. He is now chief, and he has reassigned other detectives to this case. Now, the way that he was killed, and it was a large crime scene that I remember because I remember the day I went to West House, where he was almost running a block down the street, correct? Folks along that street had to have heard it. Had to have seen something. You know, one thing I, I do know about in law enforcement, as you said, people see things, people hear things. If you have gunshots going off in the neighborhood, somebody's going to be paying attention. Somebody's going to look. About six, seven shots, man. About right before a dog, or may have been dark. I didn't pay attention, but I paid attention to those shots. That scene was not just isolated to that porch. That was, that, that was a scene that stretched a block or so, and then ended on a porch. So we're confident that someone knew something, seen something, heard something. But as always, the challenge is getting folks to come forward and share that information. And this is one thing that Mom brought up. She feels like the answer is on Facebook. She says that that's the way he communicated. He communicated through Facebook Messenger. She believes that he may have chatted with his killer. What have you instructed your guys to do as far as weeks to months to heat this thing up? Well, um, putting another detective on it. One, we're going to re-examine again all the evidence that was collected. He was tied to this metal chair. This chair was overturned here on the porch, and he was laying here. The chair is still on the porch, and I don't understand because I'm sure there's evidence on it. She doesn't believe detectives took all the evidence they could have. For instance, the chair is still there, like it wasn't picked up. The evidence wasn't picked up, and she said there could have been fingerprints or something on that. You know how scenes are processed normally? Everything that's around the body is taken. Why do you think they've left such a high profile thing, like, for instance, the chair? Well, I'm not aware of the, all the evidence that was collected from the scene. I do know that there was a lot of evidence taken. Go back and canvas the area. Go back and canvas the area, not only for additional evidence but for additional people that may have been around or heard something. And hopefully, we can kind of turn over a stone that somebody, someone may have missed. I've known Travis Christian, the chief of police in Petersburg, for more than 20 years, and I think that he will do his due diligence to make sure we get a wrap on this thing and somebody gets arrested. Um, but again, it all comes down to the folks out there that were close to Taj, the people that live on that street. What are they willing to tell to make this thing open up and thaw out? That's the big question because there are people on that street, St. Matthews, that have the answers. How deep does this go? Because people, for people to be that scared, to me, it has to be deeper than that. I just don't feel like he has peace. It's like this thing happened to him, and it's, it's not solved. Like, I know what's happening to y'all family. Somebody needs to start talking. And it's sad that my grandson only got two years for his father. He was a good father.
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We recognize that once a loved one is tragically killed in an incident, that after the news story is over, a family is still living with that loss. And our commitment is to make sure that in every case possible, we can find closure for the family and bring justice to the person who's victimized someone that we're responsible for protecting. Even to the bad guys, it's a message. It's a message that, you know, while they think that they may have gotten away with it, it's still eyes out there looking into this case, and it will come. There has to be a contribution, not just from the police, but from the community members. So something like the Reopen the Case Foundation is, is so instrumental in opening a door. And let's make sure that we understand that we're doing this to come together for the victims and the families of our victims. I think Taj Mere's case is going to open up doors to a lot of cases. And, and if this is why he died, to sob a lot, and that's what I'm here for, to give his life purpose. If you have information about the deaths of Taj Mere Hopkins or Vinnie Ferriella, or the disappearance of Keisha Jacobs, call 833-RTCNVA or email us at tips@reopenthecase.org.