Felicia Coleman hung back in the throng of family members gathered in front of the microphones, wiping away tears.
The Hobart Police Department’s arrest of two Gary men for her baby sister Destiny Jackson’s murder Wednesday morning affected her more profoundly than even her other seven siblings, who were cautiously jubilant during a press conference outside Hobart City Hall Thursday afternoon. It hit her hard because at one point early on, people thought she was the one who killed Jackson and her partner, Nazirah Muhammad, November 3, 2022.
“That was my baby. I lived with her for a while,” Felicia Coleman, 38, told the Post-Tribune. “All these people accusing (me) on social media: Why would they feel like I did it? It broke me down.”
Sha Coleman, another of Jackson’s older sisters, called the ordeal “an emotional roller coaster” but said the healing started Thursday.
“Today is a step forward for my sister. She was loved, she was brave, and she did not deserve what happened to her,” Sha Coleman said. “We’re grateful for the detectives, we’re grateful for the Hobart Police Department, and we just want to make sure that they know that we’re going to continue to fight until we have full justice so other families don’t have to go through this.”
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Jackson’s eldest sister, Dominique Coleman, thanked the case’s lead, Hobart Detective Michael Gallagher, for his unwavering support and help the last three years.
“Me and my family had all the faith in you. We never ever once felt like we would not get justice; it was not if we go justice, but when we got justice,” Dominique Coleman said. “From the day it happened to the day you came and told us you arrested someone, we never felt like this was a cold case.
“The goal now is to make sure that full justice is served. We’re thankful we no longer have to do our own investigations or lose sleep. Our family, we thank you.”
The family didn’t know the two men police arrested – Sa Quan Kirksey, 25, and Amos Daylon Crim, 26, both of Gary — and they believe Jackson and Muhammad didn’t know them well. The women preferred to talk about Jackson, who was the youngest of nine.
“She was spoiled, and she used that to her advantage, in a good way,” Sha Coleman said as the family chuckled. “She loved to sing, she loved to rap, she loved to dance, she liked to draw. And she was very family oriented: She loved her nieces and nephews.”
“I feel like people all the time paint their relatives to be, you know, angels who don’t do anything wrong, but she was truly just a kid in every aspect, and very smart. When everything happened, you couldn’t have told me that my sister, my baby sister, would’ve been killed,” Dominique Coleman added.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun offered his congratulations to the family through a statement provided by Lisette Guillen, host of crime show Case Files Chicago.
“Our hearts go out to the family,” Huddlestun said. “We hope the dedication of the Hobart Police Department in bringing those responsible to justice will provide some measure of closure to their family and friends.”
Gallagher declined to provide any specifics as the investigation is ongoing and there may be a third person involved. A detective with Hobart since 2019, he said the case was rarely out of his thoughts.
“For 3 ½ years, I was engulfed in the weight of this case. There wasn’t a night that went by that we were talking about it or texting each other in the middle of the night,” he said. “The coordination, discipline and shared purpose.”
Hobart Police Lt. Jim Gonzales said the final nail came in the form of a tip upon which Gallagher followed up. With Gallagher leading, the whole department was celebrating the arrests.
“There was 300 years of experience working this case, so he was never alone. The investigation is 50 pages long,” Gonzales said. “We all take it personally.”
On Nov. 4, 2022, Hobart Police responded to an apartment on the 400 block of Ruta Drive after a welfare check was requested for Destiny Jackson. They found Jackson, 20, and Nazirah Muhammad, 19, both shot multiple times in a bedroom. They also found blood in the bathroom. Their deaths were ruled homicides.
The back sliding door was open. Police found multiple 22 mm casings. Ballistics tests later confirmed that two guns were used. Muhammad’s phone was missing, but police later found it shattered near a curb just outside the complex; they found a blue rubber glove at the crime scene, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
In a nine-page affidavit, police pieced together what happened with a 911 call, digital evidence — including threatening Facebook messages from the dealer to Muhammad — and what Kirksey later told investigators. Court documents allege the marijuana dealer, furious at the money he was owed, orchestrated their deaths.
According to a 911 call, Gallagher wrote he would overhear Muhammad presumably say “I got your money” before 10 or 20 gunshots from two shooters were heard. He couldn’t make out most of the conversation.
As part of the investigation, police found that Muhammad called police around 5 a.m. Nov. 2 to report a suspicious person. They swiftly found the drug dealer in the parking lot. He said he was there to sell marijuana to someone on the second floor.
Police seized nearly 500 grams of marijuana he had on him.
On Nov. 2, 2022, Crim angrily demanded his money from Muhammad in Facebook messages.
Muhammad said she was calling her bank to ask why the money didn’t go through. After she said Crim threatened her, she said she’d get a protection order until she moves to the city.
“Don’t play with me,” Crim wrote. “The police said (somebody) had to set me up if I wasn’t even outside for (five minutes).”
Police arrested the drug dealer at Lear Corp., where Crim was employed through a temp agency. They later confirmed he left work early the day of the murders. When confronted with license plate reader data, Crim claimed to police he was “riding around, smoking and can’t remember where he was,” the affidavit states.
He was later released, since charges weren’t yet filed.
The alleged lookout, Sa Quan Kirksey, 25, was charged Tuesday with four counts of murder, two counts of burglary and one count of theft. Kirksey was arrested Wednesday and Crim had his initial appearance on Friday.
In a Nov. 2 message, Crim messaged Jackson asking how much money she had. When she replied “$130,” Crim told her to send it to him via cash app.
In a September 2025 interview, Kirksey told investigators the dealer messaged him that he was “so angry” he didn’t get his money from “two females” he was “almost crying,” charges state.
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Crim did “his own stakeout” to find out where they lived.
Before the murders, the three men met at the dealer’s Gary apartment. They tried to take back roads and avoid “cameras.” Crim had an “AR-style rifle” and Kirksey said the third man had a .22-caliber rifle.
They used a table to hop up to the balcony. All were in black with masks and blue latex gloves. Kirksey said he heard 5-10 shots before the other two men ran back to the car. They tossed gloves out the window on the way back.
DNA tests later excluded all three men from a blue glove.
Anyone with information regarding this case can contact Gallagher at 219-942-4991 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.