Jackson Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder, Sexual Battery of Andrea Boyer

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Clay County jury has found Michael R. Jackson guilty of First-Degree Murder and Sexual Battery in the 2007 killing of Andrea Boyer. With the verdict, Jackson faces death for his crimes. The Honorable Don Lester will conduct the sentencing portion of this trial with the jury the week of Feb. 21, 2023.

On the morning of Jan. 23, 2007, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office responded to a veterinary clinic on Wells Road after an employee found a coworker, Andrea Boyer, murdered inside the business. An investigation determined Boyer had been disrobed, sexually battered, stabbed, strangled, and hit repeatedly in the head with a fire extinguisher. DNA evidence – later verified to be semen — was collected from Boyer’s body and submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which ran the sample through CODIS, a DNA database. Results confirmed it was Jackson’s DNA.

The State in trial presented evidence of a sexual battery from 1986 that Jackson was convicted of and for which he served time in prison. This evidence showed a pattern of related criminal behavior, a lack of consent, and revealed similarities in motive and manner in which Jackson committed the crimes.

The case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Dan Skinner, Pam Hazel, and Ashley Terry.