Inset: Jacob Ackerman (Jackson County Jail). Background: Highway M-291 and Highway 210 in Sugar Creek, Missouri, where Ackerman is accused of killing his brother (Google Maps).
A Missouri man is behind bars after he allegedly shot his more accomplished brother in the back of the head after an argument “over a girl.”
Court documents indicate that 43-year-old Jacob Ackerman is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Sugar Creek police in the Kansas City area began their investigation around 10 p.m. Saturday after the victim’s family noticed he had been inactive for seven hours, according to a probable cause statement. The family used the Life360 app to locate his last known position near Highway M-291 and Highway 210, as detailed in the affidavit.
A family member then gave police a more specific location near the northeast corner of a local pond. Officers arrived at the scene and found the victim’s body. He was discovered on the pond’s bank with a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
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Relatives who called police told detectives they suspected Ackerman was responsible for his brother’s death. According to the probable cause statement, relatives of the victim also called the medical examiner’s office and spoke with an investigator, who in turn told detectives that “while on the phone with the relative an unknown individual could be heard in the background stating the incident was a ‘Cain and Abel’ situation.”
Ackerman’s relatives noted that his mental health had been declining recently and he had been “jealous of the victim for most of his life due to the victim being successful,” while Ackerman struggled. They also told detectives they saw the victim’s Mercedes in Ackerman’s driveway.
Cops arrested Ackerman at a McDonald’s in Kansas City early Sunday morning. After he was detained, a relative asked him why he killed his brother and he looked at her with a “blank stare on his face,” the affidavit said.
According to detectives, the victim took a selfie photo with him and Ackerman at the exact location where his body was located, cops said. Investigators also recovered surveillance video from a nearby gas station that showed Ackerman and his brother arrive in the victim’s Mercedes, according to the affidavit.
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After receiving his Miranda warnings, Ackerman initially claimed he had no idea about the whereabouts of his brother. When he was told the situation looks bad, he allegedly stated “if it looks bad then it’s bad.”
When detectives asked Ackerman if they could search his home, he allegedly told them “you are going to do what you are going to do.”
But Ackerman eventually confessed, police said.
“During the interview Jacob admitted to standing behind the victim and shooting him in the head,” detectives wrote. “When asked why he shot the victim Jacob indicated he and the victim and gotten into an argument over a girl.”
Ackerman also allegedly said he hid the murder weapon in an attic crawl space.
Cops arrested Ackerman and took him to the Jackson County Jail where he remains on a $300,000 cash bail. Police have not publicly identified the victim.
