Solider Arrested in Brandy Fonteneaux Case

Social Media Correspondents January 28, 2012

User Rating: 0 (0 votes)

Brandy Fonteneaux

By Kenneth Ware, Jr.

A Fort Carson soldier has been charged in the murder of Texas Southern University alumna Brandy Fonteneaux, 28, who was an Army specialist.

Sgt. Vincinte L. Jackson, 40, from Blythe, Ca. has been in pretrial confinement since his Jan. 20 arrest.

Jackson is with the 576th Engineer Company, 4th Engineer Battalion.

In the weeks leading up to Jackson’s arrest, the family simply wanted answers from Fort Carson military officials in Colorado on why this happened to their loved one.

Fonteneaux’s adopted mother Beven Thomas said the family called the military base after they could no reach Brandy on the weekend of January 6 and asked them to go check on her.

She said her commander went to the barracks and saw Brandy’s bare legs; however, he could not enter the female quarters. That’s when he asked a female soldier to enter Brandy’s room. She was discovered on Sunday, Jan. 8 unclothed and stabbed to death, Thomas said.

Her clothes had been removed and placed in a dumpster, Thomas said.

“I want the military to take better care of our soldiers,” said Thomas in an exclusive interview with the Social Media Correspondents. “Most people coming in from war are placed at Fort Carson without receiving the necessary medical attention.”

Thomas wants the military to be accountable.

“The military cannot bring Brandy back,” said Thomas. “However, they can fix this situation that is going on right now.”

According to Thomas, there was no relationship between Fonteneaux and Jackson.

The family told SMC that they were told Jackson confessed to Fonteneaux’s murder. Military authorities stormed his room, where he had made an unsuccessful suicide attempt and arrested him, Thomas said.

Thomas said Fonteneaux fought hard for her life based on the condition of the room. Blood was splattered everywhere including on the walls, she said.

Agents from the Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating the case. Additional information has not been released.

By Social Media Correspondents

The Social Media Correspondents use multiple social media platforms to report on pertinent issues. The founding editor is journalist and Texas Southern University Journalism Professor Serbino Sandifer-Walker @sswalker (Twitter). The Chief SMC is Kenneth Ware Jr. @KennethWareJr (Twitter), New York Times Intern Reporter, Houston Chronicle Intern Reporter, BET blogger. *We are the first team in the nation, with a professional and collegiate news group, to use multiple social media as a reporting tool. We tell stories dynamically using a myriad of social and multimedia platforms. We are especially interested in telling under told stories in underserved communities. We use mobile phones to capture video, audio, photos and live events in the communities we cover. We live tweet and have a newsfeed on Twitter at #TwitterNewsChat. We're always thinking outside of the box.