Body of missing woman found in Lake City

K-9 search for missing Baker Co. woman turned up body in Columbia Co.

LAKE CITY, Fla. – Some are finding closure while others still have questions now that a body found in Columbia County has been identified as 56-year-old Sharon Jackson of Macclenny.

Jackson had been missing a couple weeks after her car was found abandoned in Columbia County.

A cause of death has not yet been determined, but there are no obvious signs of trauma to the body, and investigators do not suspect foul play, though they did say that think her death was related to a crime.

K-9 units discovered the body on a property near the intersection of State Road 47 and Business Point Drive around 11:30 a.m. Friday.

"I have a lot of questions. I have no idea what happened," Jackson's friend, Erin Tubbs, said. "This is unlike Sharon. She was a homebody. Sharon was strong, physically strong. And she was smart, and I just find it hard to be believe that if someone approached her to hurt her, I know she would've fought."

Jackson's body was discovered Friday just yards from where her car was found June 22.

Sharon Jackson

Jackson (pictured) disappeared more than two weeks ago, and her Chevrolet Equinox was found the next day along Highway 47, just south of Lake City. Deputies said Jackson's purse was still in the SUV, but its contents had been scattered around.

Her family has been notified.

Several agencies were processing the scene for clues Friday afternoon, and a large area was taped off. Deputies asked residents to stay clear of the area as K-9 teams continued to investigate.

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office said the initial autopsy doesn't show anything suspicious on the body and there was no suspicious evidence found at the scene, but they are still tracing things like Jackson's phone records to be sure.

"We are looking at phone records, trying to backtrack where she went. Her friends and relatives have relayed to us that she normally doesn't travel on that road. So we're looking at why she would be in that area," Corp. Murray Smith, with the Columbia County Sheriff Office, said.

The body was delivered to the medical examiner, who determined its identity. 

The Baker County Sheriff's Office has been helping with the search for Jackson. They said that it was a personal case because Jackson's mother used to work for the county.

"I know her family, her two sisters and her sweet mother. Worked with her mother, my parents worked with her mother when she was a secretary for a county judge here. We have been working with her since that time to figure out what's going on," Sheriff Joey Dobson, with the Baker County Sheriff's Office, said. 


About the Authors:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.