A Missouri college sprinter is dead after his girlfriend allegedly forced her way into a locked bedroom and stabbed him during a violent confrontation.
Denita Jackson, 27, stands charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action after police say she killed fellow Lincoln University track athlete Kevaughn Goldson, 23, inside a Jefferson City apartment.
Officers rushed to a residence in the 800 block of Fairmount Boulevard at 1:09 a.m. Monday after Jackson dialed 911. Responding officers found Goldson suffering from stab wounds and began emergency aid at the scene.
Paramedics transported Goldson to Capital Region Emergency Room, where medical staff prepared him for transfer. He was flown by helicopter to University Hospital and died during surgery.
Court documents outline a volatile relationship between Jackson and Goldson that allegedly included prior violent encounters. Investigators say tension erupted after Jackson returned home early from work because she felt sick.
Police state she had left Goldson in her bedroom hours earlier. When she walked back into the apartment around 1 a.m., she heard her roommate talking behind a locked door.
Jackson used a hair clip to unlock the door, records show. Inside, she found Goldson and the roommate in bed together, fully dressed.
Detectives allege Jackson jumped onto the bed and grabbed Goldson, igniting a struggle. Goldson kicked her in the stomach, according to police, causing her to fall backward.
Jackson told officers Goldson climbed on top of her and began choking her. She claimed she reached under the roommate’s bed, grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the chest and back.
According to KMIZ, there had been past domestic violence issues between the pair, but it was not disclosed who the aggravating party was.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact number of wounds. Investigators documented injuries consistent with knife strikes during the encounter.
Jackson was taken into custody at the scene and booked into Cole County Jail without bond.
Lincoln University released a statement following the killing that read, “Our thoughts are with family, friends, faculty, staff and all who have been impacted by this tragic situation.”
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Both Jackson and Goldson competed on the university’s track and field team. Prosecutors are moving forward with felony charges that carry significant prison exposure if a conviction follows.
The Jefferson City case arrives amid other recent relationship-driven homicide investigations across the region.
In Ferguson earlier this month, officers discovered Henry Williams and his 15-year-old daughter Ha’layna Elliot shot to death inside their home on North Clay Avenue.
Police arrested 61-year-old Linda Hayden at the residence after locating her locked in a bedroom. Investigators recovered a .38 revolver containing two spent casings.
Williams had been shot in the back of the head, and Ha’layna sustained a gunshot wound to the forehead.
Detectives wrote that Hayden “spontaneously made a statement that she guessed she was the villain in the story and that [Williams] was a bad man and a narcissist.”
Hayden now faces two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action. She remains held at the St. Louis County Justice Center on a $2 million bond.
Williams once served as Berkeley’s fire chief after taking the position in 2003 at age 40. Ha’layna attended Pattonville High School and played on the basketball team.
Investigators have not released a motive in that case.
Authorities in Indiana are also prosecuting multiple suspects in the killing of 58-year-old Michael Greer.
Deputies responded to a vehicle fire in a rural field at 3:45 a.m. on December 14, 2025, and found Greer’s body inside the burned car.
Investigators believe Greer was beaten and shot at a residence in Indianapolis before being wrapped in fabric and driven to the field. The coroner concluded he was likely alive when the vehicle was set ablaze.
Several individuals now face charges including murder, arson, kidnapping, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
Deputy prosecutor Maricel Driscoll told the court, “Number one, destroyed evidence, including but not limited to burned clothing, shoes and other items with blood on them, or, number two, disposed of Michael Greer’s car.”
Court filings indicate one woman admitted driving Greer to the field, while others acknowledged participation in events surrounding his death.
In California, Alyssa Marie Lira of Anaheim was arrested months after authorities say she decapitated her boyfriend, Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal.
Officers conducting a welfare check on Aug. 25 discovered his body inside a residence. Investigators state the pair had dated for about two months before the killing.
Lira fled to Mexico after the incident and was later apprehended in January following coordination between local police, federal authorities and Mexican officials.
She faces a murder charge and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon, which could result in more than 25 years in state prison if convicted.
“Nothing — not time, not distance, nor foreign borders — will thwart our pursuit of justice, and Orange County law enforcement will continue to go to the very ends of the earth to carry out our mission and hold criminals accountable for the heinous acts they commit,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
