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Jessica Newcomb, a 21-year-old mother and s*x worker, was gunned down in a Mobile, Alabama, hotel room in 2017 by a man she started talking to online and met for oral s*x in exchange for money. Her friend, who was present in the room with her during the incident, later reported the killing to the cops as the sole witness to the crime.
The suspect, a local pizza shop employee named Frederick Knight Jr., was located and arrested after authorities examined surveillance video from the hotel. He was charged in the killing but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, receiving a 20-year prison sentence.
A&E's The First 48 will revisit Jessica Newcomb's murder in an episode titled Tricked; Rogue Gun. The synopsis for the upcoming episode, which airs on the channel this Friday, March 31, at 8:00 pm ET, reads as:
"In Mobile, Ala., a 21-year-old woman is shot dead in her hotel room by a mysterious visitor; when a 42-year-old music producer is found riddled with bullets in his Gwinnett County apartment, clues point toward a madman on a shooting spree."
Jessica Newcomb's murder: Five quick facts to know about the s*x worker's 2017 shooting death
1) Newcomb was fatally shot at the Budget Inn Hotel in Mobile, Alabama
Jessica Newcomb, a 21-year-old mother and s*x worker from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, heavily involved in drugs, was fatally shot on May 24, 2017 while staying at the Budget Inn Hotel located at 156 West Interstate 65 Service Road in Mobile, Alabama. The case was initially called an "an act of prostitution that went wrong."
2) Her friend who also witnessed the crime called 911
Newcomb's friend, later identified as Heather Wallace, who was also the sole witness to the crime, called 911 while administering CPR to the victim.
Wallace claimed that she was present in the room when the shooting took place, stating that she was asleep in one of the two beds. As per her account of the events, a black man was standing over her and allegedly demanded money before shooting the victim.
3) Jessica Newcomb was found fatally wounded on the room floor
Authorities who arrived at the crime scene sometime around 9:47 am after receiving Wallace's distressing call found Newcomb on the hotel room floor between the two beds with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. She later succumbed to the injuries.
4) Surveillance footage was used to indentify and locate the shooter
While investigating the murder, authorities used surveillance footage that captured the shooter, who was dressed in a red shirt and black pants.
He reportedly arrived at the hotel five minutes after 9:30 that morning in a maroon colored Toyota Corrolla. A distinct emblem on the red shirt linked him to a local pizza place, Hungry Howie's Pizza, was used to identify him as Frederick Knight Jr.
5) Frederick Knight Jr. said he shot her after she refused to return the money and drugs he gave her
Knight Jr. and Jessica Newcomb started talking via the Backpage.com website. The former allegedly asked the s*x worker for oral s*x and she agreed to it in exchange for $60.
He then arrived at the hotel room and the 27-year-old claimed that he gave Newcomb $40 and Xanax pills worth another $10. But after receiving oral s*x, he asked her to return the money and pills and shot her when she refused to comply.
