HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Joi Brown’s loved ones continue to advocate for ‘Justice for Joi.’ 

The Kecoughtan High School teacher and a longtime educator on the Peninsula was killed in June 2023. An autopsy report confirmed Brown was shot in the head. The medical examiner classified her death as a homicide. 

Brown’s friends and family have been pushing for answers for the last nine months. In February, Brown’s ex-boyfriend Calvin Jackson turned himself into Hampton police. 

Jackson appeared in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. Jackson has been charged with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, maliciously shooting in an occupied building and a gun charge. 

Two witnesses testified, saying “something wasn’t right” and “the situation didn’t feel right,” leading up to the discovery of Brown’s body.

Tamika Dixson, a friend of Brown, testified she was “concerned” after several friends and Brown’s daughter didn’t hear from her on June 25, 2023.

Dixson explained to Jennifer Truitt with the Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office that the door near the kitchen was unlocked when she arrived at Brown’s home on Wendell Drive.

Dixson called Shakina James, who lives nearby, to go inside of the house to “check on Joi.” Shakina’s husband, Jemar James, agreed to go inside with Dixson.

When Dixson and James entered the home, they smelled “fecal matter.”  The two made their way to the stairwell, then saw Jackson in a disoriented state. 

“The way he was speaking made me believe he was injured,” Dixson said after Jackson’s attorney Jefferson Spears asked for clarity on Jackson’s appearance. 

When James and Dixson asked, “where is Joi?” Jackson said “downstairs.”

James added that Jackson was “bleeding, snot was coming from his nose. He had scratches on him.” 

“I never seen him in that state before,” James said.

James said “feces” smeared on the walls and Jackson’s robe. While James restrained Jackson. Dixson went into Brown’s bedroom, where she found Brown without a pulse, naked and “cold” on her bedroom floor.

“[Dixson] started screaming and crying,” James said. 

James said he “saw a gun on the floor by her foot and a shell casing.” 

Court documents obtained by 10 On Your Side’s investigations team show Hampton Police also reported a gun was “located lying at Brown’s feet with a cartridge casing in the same location.”

Court records over the years outline a long history of abusing Brown. A previous conviction prohibited Jackson from using firearms. 

Earlier in the day

James testified that around 2:30 a.m. on June 25, 2023, he “heard yelling in the garage” of Brown’s house. James clarified that he heard Jackson’s voice and a woman’s voice.

About an hour later, around 3:45 a.m., James said he saw Jackson walk to Brown’s truck and grab something then return to the house. 

Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Gregory Bane said the case will go to the grand jury May 6. Then, Jackson will decide if he will have a jury trial or bench trial May 24.