HOUSTON – Eight years after their daughter was murdered, a family will finally see her ex-boyfriend face trial for capital murder on Tuesday.
Jarvis Hickerson, 32, is accused of killing Amalia Alexander, 32, in retaliation after she filed a protective order against Hickerson for beating her a week before her death, according to court documents. He is accused of striking Alexander with his foot and that’s when she got an emergency protection order against Hickerson on Sept 12, 2016.
Court records show two days after his arrest, he made bond.
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Alexander was reported missing in Harris County on Sept. 20, 2016 after she failed to show up for work. When investigators called her cell phone, no one answered.
Deputies said evidence showed that Alexander was last seen leaving her apartment complex with Hickerson on Sept. 19, 2016. Hickerson told investigators that he did not know where Alexander was or how she left the area.
But surveillance video obtained from Alexander’s apartment complex told a different story.
The video showed Hickerson’s truck going in and out of her apartment complex the night of her disappearance, prosecutors said. The video also showed a large object in the bed of the suspect’s truck
Prosecutors said when they went to Alexander’s apartment on Oct. 5, 2016 they found clear signs of a struggle.
READ: Man charged with murdering girlfriend seen on video at woman’s apartment
On Nov. 30, 2016, cellphone records led them to Alexander’s skeletal remains in a shallow grave in Montgomery County. Clothes were also found nearby, investigators said. Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide investigators said they found evidence that Hickerson had been near the crime scene.
Hickerson was already in jail for violating the protective order when he was charged with Alexander’s death.
Alexander’s sister, Laura Alexander, said Hickerson was possessive with her sister and she tried to warn her. She said Hickerson deserves to be punished for her sister’s death.
Murder suspect arrested again while on bond
While out on bond, Hickerson was arrested on April 6, 2021 for violating the terms of his bond after investigators say he assaulted his new girlfriend and tried to tamper with his GPS monitoring device.
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A judge revoked his bond after the new allegations against him and he remained in jail since then.
Laura said if her family ever gets the chance to speak directly to Hickerson in court, she will be the one to make that address. She said her only question for Hickerson right now is why he may have killed her sister.
For Laura, who spent most of Tuesday on the witness stand, this much delayed trial is an answer to prayers.
“It will bring me peace and joy, all of us, peace to know that justice is being done and no one else gets hurt,” she said.
The capital murder trial of Jarvis Hickerson resumes Wednesday in the 177th District Court in Harris County at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.