By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: May 6, 2008

FALMOUTH — A quiet trailer park on U.S. 1 became the scene of a murder investigation Monday night when Stafford County Sheriff’s Office deputies found four people dead, including two small children.

A 911 call came into Stafford authorities at 9:40 p.m. on Monday night about a domestic disturbance at 4 Walt Way in Falmouth. When police responded, they found Latasha Nicole Thomas, 23, and her two children, Nicole Aaron Jackson, 2, and Aaron Neptune Jackson, 1, dead of apparent gunshot wounds. The children were taken to local hospitals where they were later pronounced dead.

Deputies also found the body Aaron Poseidon Jackson, 24, inside the trailer where the murders occurred. Detectives believe Jackson, who is the father of the two children, turned the gun on himself and committed suicide after killing his girlfriend and his two children.

Stafford Sheriff Charles Jett said a preliminary investigation into the murders reveals that Thomas called a family member at least two times for help earlier in the day. Police say she asked be picked up from the trailer because Jackson was physically assaulting her.

Thomas placed another call to a family member, who was not identified, at 9:30 p.m. asking them not to come and stating that everything was going to be OK. The family member, who was already en route, arrived at the trailer 10 minutes later and got no answer when knocking at the door.

A neighbor told her that he had heard a gunshot coming from their trailer 10 minutes before she had arrived, according to the sheriff’s office.

Police believe Jackson shot both children each in the head, while they lay in their cribs, and that their mother was shot in the head with an AK-47-type assault rifle. Jackson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Neighbors say the victims had lived in the trailer park for no more than six months.

“They were normally quiet, except for last night when I had to go and tell them to turn their music down,” said Rosemary Altollestelle, who lived next door to the victims.

Inside the victims’ home was a collection of liquor bottles on the counter. Neighbors said they were having some sort of party Monday night.

Ashley Price, who was alerted to the shooting by reporters outside the trailer park, said she spent the past weekend with Jackson. She said the two stayed in a the travel lodge hotel on U.S. 17 in south Stafford, preformed sexual acts, and snorted more than two grams of cocaine.

“He had called me [Monday night] to come and pick him up; he had been drinking and [Thomas] had sold all of his stuff,” said Price. “He was leaving her for me.”

Price said that she and Jackson has just started a relationship, and that Jackson had told Thomas she and the children had to be out of the home by the end of May.

Price said that she spoke with Jackson on Monday evening and told him to “enjoy his time with his kids” before they moved out to live with their mother.

According to a sheriff’s report, the department seized a number of guns from the home, including handguns, rifles, a machete, as well as multiple knives.

“He carries a gun with a holster underneath him, but he has a concealed-weapons permit,” said Price.

Price said Jackson always felt the need to protect himself in case he was ever attacked in public.

Pam Newton, a neighbor in the area, said she knew the victims. 

“She was a good mother,” said Newton of Thomas. “The kids were happy. They were always waiving out of the windows.”