Charles Mitchell, the man wanted for the 2022 murder of Mar’Quis “MJ” Jackson was apprehended in Nevada by U.S. Marshals over the weekend. Jackson, a Black trans man and community advocate in Philadelphia, was found dead on December 14, 2022 in Nicetown.
The DA’s office released the following statement: “Charles Mitchell, who is wanted for the murder of Mar’Quis “MJ” Jackson, was taken into custody over the weekend by U.S. Marshals in Henderson, Nevada. The DA’s Office thanks Philadelphia Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, and law enforcement in Nevada for helping to bring this individual to justice. We will release more information about this case, including with regard to extradition, in the near future.”
Jackson was celebrating his 33rd birthday with friends on Dec. 12, two days before his body was found. The city’s medical examiner’s office ruled the manner of his death as homicide and the cause of death as blunt-force head trauma.
According to published reports, Jackson was born and raised in South Carolina. Immediately prior to his death, he lived in the Germantown section of the city and was heavily involved in transgender activism, which included supporting the William Way LGBT Community Center and the Transgender Legal Defense Fund among other causes. A family member described him as a vivacious person who was “full of life and love” and “would get the party started anywhere.”
“My brother was not a bad person,” Jackson’s sister, Markiya Jackson, said at a press conference on March 15. “No one deserves to be heinously taken out of this world at the hands of another human being.”