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Frederick Knight Jr., the man arrested and charged with the killing of s*x worker Jessica Newcomb in Mobile, Alabama, pleaded guilty to a lesser-included charge of manslaughter in November 2021 after a jury came back hung.
On May 24, 2017, Newcomb was fatally shot in a hotel room in the presence of her friend and the sole witness to the crime, Heather Wallace.
The accused was arrested the following day from his home after authorities tracked his vehicle using surveillance footage from the same hotel. He claimed the incident occurred over drugs and money after the two engaged in oral s*x.
According to reports, Frederick Oneal Knight, Jr. avoided significant jail time in the 2017 shooting case involving 21-year-old Jessica Newcomb, having been released with time served. However, on Monday, July 17, 2023, he received a 37-month prison sentence from a federal judge for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.
This sentencing, issued by U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose, also includes three years of supervised release after his prison term. Knight’s arrest occurred on August 12, 2022, when Mobile police stopped him in a vehicle and discovered the firearm.
An upcoming episode of A&E's The First 48 is slated to further delve into Jessica Newcomb's murder case. The episode titled Tricked; Rogue Gun will air on Friday, March 31, at 8.00 pm ET, whose synopsis 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."
Frederick Knight Jr. was arrested in Jessica Newcomb's killing after surveillance placed him at the crime scene
Frederick Knight Jr., 27, who was accused of robbing and shooting Jessica Newcomb of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at the Budget Inn Motel in west Mobile on May 24, 2017, claimed that an exchange of s*x, money, and drugs led to the shooting incident at the hotel. He claimed wanting two of those items back is what preceded the death of the 21-year-old victim.
Judge Joe Basenburg of the Mobile District Court declared that there was sufficient probable cause to send the case to a grand jury after the prosecution submitted evidence at a preliminary hearing in June of that same year.
Jermaine Rogers, a detective with the Mobile Police Department, provided information on the case. He began by stating that when police arrived at the hotel room 305 at 9:47 am on May 24, they discovered Newcomb "laying on her back between the two beds in the room" with a gunshot wound to the chest. She eventually succumbed to the wound she sustained.
Rogers reportedly said that another woman, identified as Heather Wallace, was present inside the room at the time of the shooting. The latter was the only witness to the crime and identified the shooter as a black man who allegedly demanded money from her before threatening to shoot the victim.
It was revealed that during the initial stages of the investigation, video surveillance was allegedly used to identify the shooter as Frederick Knight Jr., a Hungry Howie's Pizza employee, using his clothing. His car, which was captured in the same video, was used to locate him on Jane Avenue in the Prichard area the day after the shooting.
The accused was initially charged with first-degree murder and robbery
Frederick Knight Jr. claimed that he and Jessica Newcomb started talking on the Backpage.com website after which he asked the latter for oral s*x, who agreed to it in exchange for $60. He claimed to have given her $40 and Xanax pills worth another $10. But afterwards, he requested that she give the cash and the drugs back and claimed that he shot her when she refused to do as told.
Reports stated that Knight Jr. was originally charged with first-degree murder and robbery. But when the jury came back hung in November 2021, the DA's office offered a deal with a lesser included charge of manslaughter and he accepted the deal.
The First 48 on A&E airs on Friday at 8:00 pm ET.
