SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: April 22, 2004 from Jacksonville, Florida
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: June 24, 2003
Age: 9 months old
Height and Weight: 1'8, 20 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes
Details of Disappearance
Jay-Quan was last seen at approximately 12:30 p.m. on April 22, 2004, at a strip mall in the 3000 block of Dunn Avenue in Jacksonville, Florida. He was accompanied by his mother, Lynda Jean Wilkes. A photograph of Wilkes is posted below this case summary. John Mosley Jr., an acquaintance of Wilkes, says he took Jay-Quan and Wilkes for a drive that afternoon. A photograph of John is posted below this case summary. He says he drove them to see a house Wilkes wanted to buy, then dropped them off back at the shopping center after only a few minutes and went to work. Jay-Quan and Wilkes have never been heard from again. Relatives reported their disappearances when Wilkes did not pick up some of her other children from school. Her car, a red Ford Escort, was found abandoned in the strip mall's parking lot.
Police considered Wilkes's and Jay-Quan's disappearances suspicious from the beginning, as Wilkes's relatives all said it was uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning, and she took no diapers or baby formula for Jay-Quan when they disappeared. She had four other children besides Jay-Quan, and was employed as a bus attendant at the time of her disappearance. Two weeks after Wilkes and Jay-Quan disappeared, Wilkes's burned body was found in a remote wooded area on the property of a hunting club in Alachua County, Florida, fifty-five miles from Jacksonville. Police announced that Wilkes's death was a homicide and that they had reason to believe Jay-Quan had been murdered as well. His remains were not with his mother's.
John was arrested on an unrelated sex charge after Jay-Quan and Wilkes disappeared. While still in jail, on May 7, 2004, he was charged with two counts of murder in connection with Wilkes and Jay-Quan's cases. Another suspect, a middle school student and admitted drug dealer named Bernard Griffin, was also charged in juvenile court with being an accessory after the fact; he allegedly helped dispose of the bodies and it was he who lead authorities to Wilkes's corpse. Griffin told police that he burned Wilkes's body and dumped it where it was found, and put Jay-Quan's body in a dumpster outside of Ocala, Florida. Police searched Onyx Landfill in Valdosta, Georgia for Jay-Quan's remains, but turned up no sign of them. Wilkes's blood was found in John's vehicle, however.
Although he and Wilkes had a sexual relationship and Jay-Quan bears his surname, John, who is married, says he is not the baby's father. A judge nonetheless had ordered him to make payments of $40 a week, or $2,080 a year, for Jay-Quan's support, pending a court hearing which would determine whether he is Jay-Quan's father. Prosecutors stated the motive for the murders was the child support payments; according to them, John knew he would be proven to be Jay-Quan's father and wanted to avoid the obligations associated with paternity.
John's trial began in the fall of 2005. Griffin testified as that he saw John strangle Wilkes with his hands and that she scratched and kicked him in a vain effort to defend herself. After Wilkes died, Griffin held a black plastic plastic garbage bag open and John put Jay-Quan inside, whereupon the baby suffocated. The defense called only two witnesses, John's wife and his mother. In mid-November 2005, John was found guilty of the murders of Jay-Quan and Wilkes. The jury recommended that he be given life in prison for killing Wilkes and death for killing Jay-Quan, and he was formally sentenced in August 2006. John maintains his innocence in Wilkes's murder and Jay-Quan's disappearance and stated he believed the baby was still alive and he was being framed because he is African-American.
Jay-Quan has never been located, but foul play is suspected in his disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
904-630-0500