Inset: Dr. Craig Jackson (KEZI). Background: Reina Jackson, during a court hearing for murdering her ex-husband Craig Jackson (KATU).
An Oregon woman has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for the murder of her former husband, driven by jealousy over his new relationship. Reina Gabriela Jackson, 45, will face life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for killing Dr. Craig Jackson in Coos County. The sentencing follows a jury’s decision last month to convict her of second-degree murder, as reported by the Oregon Department of Justice.
The tragic events unfolded on August 2, 2021, when Reina Jackson, accompanied by two men, forcibly entered her ex-husband’s residence in North Bend. Officers from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office later discovered Craig Jackson dead, having sustained gunshot wounds to both the head and rectum. According to the victim’s new wife, she and Craig were asleep when the break-in occurred. She recounted hearing the intruders and her husband clashing with two of them before a gunshot resonated through the home.
Terrified, she hid beneath the bed, emerging only when the house seemed safe. Upon doing so, she found her husband lying lifeless in the hallway outside their bedroom. Despite her distress, she managed to call the police, though her ability to communicate was hindered by a language barrier. She eventually reached out to a friend who helped relay the critical details to authorities.
When paramedics arrived, they pronounced Craig Jackson dead at the scene. Subsequent investigations led law enforcement to review surveillance footage, which revealed three masked individuals—two men and one woman—near the property. This evidence pointed them to Reina Jackson’s home. Upon arrival, officers noted a suspiciously intense fire in the fireplace, causing such heat that the windows were kept open, making the atmosphere inside uncomfortable for those responding.
Paramedics found Craig Jackson and pronounced him dead at the scene.
Cops later reviewed surveillance footage that showed three masked people — two men and one woman — in the vicinity of the home. Investigators went to the home of the victim’s ex-wife, Reina Jackson. When they arrived, they noticed a fire in the fireplace that made the home so hot that all the windows were open, which made responding officers uncomfortable inside.
The defendant showed “little emotion” after hearing of her ex-husband’s demise, prosecutors said. If the fire was meant to burn key pieces of evidence, she failed to dispose of one important item. In her vehicle, cops found a map outlining her ex-husband’s home even though she denied ever being inside. They also discovered a $40,000 check from her husband. Friends told authorities he never would have given her that kind of money, and cops believed she forged his signature.
Reina Jackson met her husband in her native Guatemala while he was attending medical school. They married in 2008 and had a daughter in 2013. They moved to Oregon in 2014, but the marriage fell apart and she filed for divorce in 2016. A judge awarded full custody of the girl to the victim.
Reina Jackson allegedly broke a window at her ex-husband’s home in 2018 after she saw he was with a lady friend. She also assaulted him.
Craig Jackson married a woman he met in China in 2020, and the spousal support he was paying his ex-wife ended in 2021. The defendant fled the country with her daughter and traveled to Guatemala shortly after the murder, but was arrested upon her return to the U.S. in 2023. She’s been in jail ever since and her daughter has remained in Guatemala.
While behind bars, she made incriminating statements, telling a fellow inmate her lawyer showed her a video depicting “me and the two men that killed my husband.” She also wrote letters to her daughter, trying to convince the girl to tell authorities that her father gave her the $40,000 check meant for her mother.
Craig Jackson served in the Navy before becoming a doctor. He worked at a local health clinic.
“Dr. Craig Jackson served his country, built a career dedicated to caring for people, and was building a new life for himself and his daughter,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement. “What happened to him was brutal and calculated. His family deserved justice, and the sentence reflects the gravity of what was done.”
Authorities have never identified the two other suspects.
