Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist charged Wallace Jackson, 48, Darrel Arthur Daves, 49, and Crystal Share Jackson, 30, with murder in the first degree for the killing of an 18-year-old Lakewood man. The defendants pleaded not guilty this afternoon in Superior Court. Wallace Jackson and Crystal Jackson, who are not related, are being held on $2 million bail. Darrel Daves is being held in lieu of $5 million bail.

On Feb. 8, 2015, Tacoma Police received a report of a dead body in a ravine near Interstate 5. Officers responded and located a bag that contained human body parts. The body had been cut in half and was sealed in plastic bags, which were wrapped in a tarp inside a red nylon duffle bag. The body was severely decomposed, but investigators were able to identify the victim as Jesus Isidor-Mendoza. He was last seen alive on Oct. 22, 2014.

Daves was living in Crystal Jackson’s detached garage at the time, and Wallace Jackson often stayed there with Daves. On the night of the murder, Isidor-Mendoza went to the garage to meet with Wallace and Daves. They raped Isidor-Mendoza, drowned him in a bucket of water and cut up his body. They packaged the pieces in the nylon bag and kept it in the garage for two days before placing it by the garbage cans. The bag began to stink, so Wallace and Crystal disposed of the body by tossing it into a ravine behind a house where Wallace used to live. Detectives believe this was a drug-related murder.

“This gruesome murder is a reminder of how violent the methamphetamine business can be,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.