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Transient pleads guilty to brutal slaying of couple Sunday Dec 18, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Troy Shinn Grants Pass Daily Courier A transient accused of savagely stabbing to death a retired couple during a burglary of their home in the Colonial Valley area north of Grants Pass pleaded guilty to aggravated murder charges Friday and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison. Had the case against 30-year-old Brian Killian gone to trial, prosecutors would have sought the death penalty, according to Josephine County Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Turner. The state has not executed anyone since 1997, however, making such an outcome remote. A moratorium on executions in Oregon by Gov. John Kitzhaber since 2011 has been reaffirmed by current Gov. Kate Brown. With the families of Jerry and Joann Jackson gathered in the courtroom or joining in on the proceedings via conference call, the mood in the courtroom of Circuit Court Judge Pat Wolke was that people needed to hear what had ended the lives of two innocent retirees. District Attorney Ryan Mulkins, who said that this was the most gruesome crime scene he’d ever witnessed, went over the facts of the case before Wolke handed down the sentencing. “The Jacksons had a nice two-story home with a nice view,” Mulkins said. “It was just another day of retirement for them until their lives were taken on that hot afternoon.” Jerry and Joann had dated in high school in California but went separate ways, married and had children with others before life brought them back together. They married and decided to settle in Josephine County. Jerry was a plant-lover, a tropical bird enthusiast, drummer and a yachtsman. Joann (pronounced “Jo Ann”) was an animal lover and active with social clubs in the community. They didn’t have any enemies. Certainly not Killian, who apparently was a stranger to them when he entered their home on Space View Drive with the intent to rob the place on the afternoon of June 15, 2015. Jerry was in the downstairs office. Joann was upstairs in the kitchen. Jerry, in good health for a 75-year-old, put up a fight and even bashed the younger man in the head with the butt of a stun gun. But Killian grabbed a 12-inch knife and stabbed and sliced Jerry several times, killing him. Joann, 73, went downstairs to check on the commotion and fled into the laundry room when she saw Killian there with the knife. He chased after her and stabbed her repeatedly before moving on to stab her two labradoodle dogs. One died later from the wounds. Killian then proceeded to take what he wanted from the house, including Joann’s PT Cruiser as a getaway car. He ended up at a neighbor’s house and attempted to break into their home as well, but the family was able to keep him out. Once Killian drove off, the neighbors recognized the PT Cruiser as Joann Jackson’s and went to the couple’s home to see if they were alright. That’s when they found the bodies and called the police. Killian was caught a while later after driving against traffic along Interstate 5 over Mt. Sexton and losing control of the car. He tried to carjack another motorist, but the man and passersby subdued him while the police arrived to arrest him. Killian was charged with a litany of crimes, including aggravated murder, burglary, robbery, animal abuse, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He pleaded guilty to everything. Killian appeared in court dressed in civilian clothes, however bailiffs and sheriff’s deputies expressed reservations about this and pressed Wolke to allow them to shackle him for the hearing. He was bound at the hands and feet, wearing slacks and a light blue collared shirt. He wore a trimmed red beard. He has a tattoo below his left eye. Killian, a transient who was abandoned by his parents as an adolescent, has a long criminal record. He had served more than six years in prison for pepper spraying and robbing a local Abby’s Pizza delivery driver in 2008. He was also on conditional release from jail for another car theft in 2014 when he murdered the Jacksons. One of Killian’s attorneys, Steven Gorham, said that there is a lesson to be learned in all this brutality. Alluding to budget woes that have crippled law enforcement in rural Josephine County, he noted that the case had to be investigated by Oregon State Police operating out of neighboring Jackson County because the Sheriff’s Office does not even have a detective division. “Josephine County, and all counties in Oregon, should learn something from this tragedy,” Gorham said. “We need law enforcement, and we cannot turn our backs on their need for more funding for the sake of our property taxes.” Jerry and Joann’s children were at the sentencing also. Speaking via conference call from her home in Fremont, Calif., Joann’s daughter, Lisa O’Grey, addressed the courtroom. “I’m sitting in my house holding my mom’s ashes,” O’Grey said. “It’s all I have left of her aside from her dog, the one Brian wasn’t able to find and practice his knife skills on.” All the family were allowed to speak, and all of them expressed how loving and kind the Jacksons were. They were successful people and upstanding citizens. They were parents and grandparents. Finally, Wolke handed down the two life sentences. But before that he addressed the defendant. “I’m not sure what to say about you other than that you’re a criminal, and a bad criminal at that,” Wolke said. Killian was given a chance to speak to the victims before the proceedings ended. “I want to apologize to the families,” Killian said. “And if you ever want to talk to me, for some sort of closure, I’ll be available.” Under the terms of his sentence, Killian will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no chance of parole.