As Arkia “Kia” Berry was dying alongside her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend inside a vehicle peppered with gunfire, she sent a text message to a friend that contained just one word – Jaco.

Investigators believe her last act in life was to give investigators a clue as to who carried out the horrific 2024 triple homicide.

Jacorian Deshawn McGregor, 25, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of Berry, 28, her son, Landyn Brooks, and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Eric Ashley Jr.

McGregor, whose nickname is “Jaco,” appeared before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell Thursday for a preliminary hearing.

The lone witness in the hearing was Birmingham homicide Det. Jarvelius Tolliver, who chronicled the final moments of the lives of the three victims.

When the hearing ended, Bell ruled there was enough probable cause to send the case to the grand jury for indictment consideration and ordered McGregor remain held without bond.

The three were gunned down July 13, 2024, inside a vehicle at the entrance of Echo Highlands Park.

It was just after 5 p.m. that Saturday when Birmingham police initially received a 911 call about a wreck.

When officers arrived, they found a blue Nissan Maxima in front of a house next to a cul-de-sac and the park entrance.

It appeared to have jumped a curb and come to a stop. The car was riddled with bullet holes and the three victims were found dead inside.

Tolliver said Berry was driving the vehicle, and Ashley was in the front passenger’s seat. Landyn, he said, was in the back seat on the driver’s side.

When police arrived, they found Berry halfway between the front and back seats, lying across the center console.

There were several shell casings at the park entrance, and there was money scattered in the roadway and nearby bushes, as if it had been blown, Tolliver said.

There were also shell casings on the car, in the grass and in the yard of the home where the victims were found.

Between 20 to 30 shell casings were recovered.

Tolliver said the passenger’s side of the Nissan where Ashley had been sitting sustained most of the gunfire.

Investigators recovered cell phones belonging to all three victims.

They also obtained surveillance video from one of the houses in the neighborhood, which has only one way in and one way out.

That home had a camera that pointed directly at the entrance to the neighborhood.

That video, Tolliver told Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrichs, showed a lime green Kia Soul entering the neighborhood at 5:07 p.m. Then, at 5:08 p.m., the Nissan arrived.

At 5:09 p.m., Berry texted the word, “Jaco.”

At 5:10, the Kia fled the neighborhood at a high rate of speed, Tolliver said. “No other cars came out after that,” he said.

Also at 5:10 p.m., Berry’s car’s crash detection system automatically dialed 911.

The following day, East Precinct officers responded to a car fire in the 9200 or 9300 block of 13th Avenue North.

The vehicle on fire was a lime green Kia Soul, and it was towed to impound.

Tolliver and ATF agents then processed the burned vehicle but were able to get a VIN number.

Through the VIN, they obtained the license plate and then used Flock cameras – license plate readers – to track the Kia’s movements before and after the deadly shooting.

The identified a woman as the owner of the Kia, who lives outside of Jefferson County. “She stated it had been stolen about five or six days before,” he said, “but she never reported it stolen.”

An analysis of the victims’ phones showed that Berry’s last text message said, “Jaco.”

Ashley’s last phone activity showed that at 5:08 p.m. he called a contact he had saved as “Jaco,” a call Ashley made as he was driving into the neighborhood.

Ashley also had made a phone call earlier that day to a contact he had saved as “Jac.” That number came back to Jacorrian McGregor, Tolliver said.

Tolliver said Verizon was able to give him text messages from the contact labeled “Jaco” from around the same time period of the shooting.

Those messages, he said, showed Ashley and McGregor planning to meet up.

“It didn’t say a time,” Tolliver said. “I believe they had talked on the phone.”

Facebook records show Ashley had previously searched for McGregor’s page and also showed McGregor had previously given out his phone numbers to people – both numbers matching the numbers listed in Ashley’s contacts as “Jaco” and “Jac.”

Phone records, Tolliver testified, showed Ashley and McGregor’s phones “pinging” off the same cell phone tower in the area of the shooting at the time of the shooting.

Tolliver said other videos showed the Kia several times that day being followed by a black Mercedes.

Through Flock images, they were able to get the license plate off the Mercedes and eventually located the man who had been driving it that day.

Police interviewed the driver who admitted he was driving the Mercedes and that he had been driving around with the Kia, who he said was driven by McGregor.

He said he was friends with both Ashley and Berry as well.

“He said McGregor told him he had shot,” Tolliver said.

McGregor wasn’t charged or arrested until February 2025. Guns and drugs were recovered during a search of his home.

During an interview with police, McGregor mentioned that his cousin called him “Jaco.” He didn’t speak with detectives after that.

A search of McGregor’s phone, Tolliver said, showed most of his text messages from the day of the shooting had been deleted.

“But he was having several conversations with people where they were talking about the incident that had taken place,” Tolliver said, “and there were people telling him to lay low, stay out of sight, stay hidden.”

Under questioning by McGregor’s attorney, John Robbins, Tolliver said there was no video showing anyone shooting from the Kia.

Robbins asked the detective if he thought it was strange that the owner of the Kia had not reported her car stolen. Tolliver said he did.

Asked if there was any physical evidence connecting McGregor to the Kia, Tolliver said there was not.

Tolliver said he knew of no connection between McGregor and the owner of the Kia.

Robbins asked if there were any other witness that put McGregor in the Kia and Tolliver replied, “I would say that Miss Berry was a witness. She texted his name right before she died.”

“That doesn’t mean he was the shooter,” Robbins said.

Under questioning by Robbins, Tolliver said he had initially sought the warrant for McGregor in 2024 but said the district attorney’s office deferred issuing the warrant at that time.

The detective said no additional evidence was obtained prior to ultimately receiving the warrant in February.

When Tolliver finished testifying, Henrichs told the judge she believed there was enough evidence for the case to proceed, citing Berry’s last text message, the phone mappings, video evidence and the statements from the Mercedes driver about McGregor.

Robbins disagreed. He said he doesn’t believe the technological evidence is as accurate as police and prosecutors believe.

“The state’s case is somewhat suspect and based upon circumstantial evidence,” Robbins said.

“We will certainly welcome to put this circumstantial evidence case to the test of the jury when we get to that point.”