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Couple arrested in murder of lottery winner

Police arrested the murder victim's siter-in-law and her boyfriend in Jacksonville Thursday night.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published July 29, 2005

TAMPA - Authorities have arrested the duo accused of kidnapping and murdering Jeffrey Dampier Jr., the 39-year-old lottery winner turned popcorn entrepreneur.

The arrests in Jacksonville of 23-year-old Victoria Jackson, Dampier's sister-in-law, and her boyfriend came as Dampier's loved ones prepared for a visitation service in Brandon tonight and a funeral in Tampa on Saturday.

Jackson and her boyfriend Nathaniel, whose last name is also Jackson, were arrested at a relative's home in Jacksonville Thursday night following a brief standoff with Jacksonville sheriff's deputies, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.

"The Jacksons refused to come out, but after a short period of time they surrendered," he said.

They were scheduled to appear in a Duval County court Friday afternoon and are expected to be extradited back to Hillsborough County, Callaway said. Two Hillsborough detectives flew to Jacksonville early Friday, but Callaway did not release details of any interviews with the Jacksons.

Both are charged with first-degree murder, armed kidnapping, aggravated armed assault and armed carjacking, jail records show.

According to Hillsborough sheriff's investigators, Dampier went in his 2005 GMC van to the Jacksons' Brandon apartment, 350 Lakewood Dr., on Tuesday evening. Relatives said Dampier, owner of Kassie's Gourmet Popcorn in Channelside, was on his way to a family dinner at Olive Garden. He stopped at the apartment first because Victoria Jackson told him she was having car trouble and needed help, one of Dampier's sisters told the Times.

About 8 p.m., according to sheriff's detectives, Victoria Jackson and Nathaniel Jackson pulled a semiautomatic handgun on Dampier and another woman with them, forcing both into the van. Callaway said the other woman is not being identified because she is a witness in the investigation.

Sheriff's officials said the Jacksons struck Dampier several times with the gun and demanded money from Dampier, who won a $20-million Illinois lottery in 1996 and later moved most of his family to Hillsborough - buying several of them houses.

Victoria Jackson shot Dampier, according to detectives.

"The motive was robbery, plain and simple," Callaway said.

Dampier was dead by the time deputies arrived at 2320 Magnolia Ave., a dead-end street in Seffner. Residents called for help after they heard Dampier's van running.

[Last modified July 29, 2005, 19:18:03]