Woman found dead in Phenix City had jumper cables, USB cord around neck, police say
A Columbus woman found dead on the roadside in Phenix City in October had jumper cables and a USB cord wrapped around her neck, a detective testified Tuesday in a hearing for murder suspect Jason Bernard Cole.
“Her face was battered,” Cpl. Issan Duke said of Rachael Marie Mixson, 41, whose body was found Oct. 22 by a husband and wife walking along Cutrate Road, on the city’s north side between Opelika Road and Copeland Drive.
Duke testified before District Court Judge Walter Gray in an intense and detailed preliminary hearing for Cole, 40, who Duke said was dating Mixson at the time. A friend had told police the relationship was troubled, Duke said.
The officer outlined the evidence police had collected since Mixson’s body was discovered at 4:06 p.m. that Saturday in bushes along the road, where investigators believe Cole dragged and dropped her body, he said. Her earrings were found on the roadway, Duke said.
An autopsy revealed she had been beaten and died from internal bleeding in her brain after being punched repeatedly in the head, the detective said.
The jumper cables around her neck were red and black, and Cole told police he had used a borrowed set of cables that color to work on his Nissan Altima, which had broken down, Duke said. Cole that weekend was driving Mixson’s car, a Nissan Maxima, the officer said.
He said investigators collected two cell phones belonging to Cole, and used one to track his movements. He said investigators compared the phone data to surveillance video and information from witnesses who saw the two the evening before the homicide.
Here’s what Duke told the judge in his testimony:
Mixson worked at the Juicy Crab restaurant on Columbus’ Manchester Expressway, where a coworker told police she appeared “frantic” when Cole picked her up there about 5 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 21. The coworker said Mixson and Cole had ended and then resumed their relationship, but Mixson wasn’t sure it would last.
Police found surveillance video that recorded Cole and Mixson at Players Billiards on 54th Street in Columbus between 9:40 and 10 p.m. that day, when they left together.
Cole’s cell phone data showed the phone was in the area of Cutrate Road in Phenix City around 2:40 a.m. and left there at 2:51 a.m. Oct. 22, Duke said.
Later that day, Cole left town, traveling to Lauderdale County, Alabama, where he’s from. He got a speeding ticket while traveling through Tuskegee on Saturday night, Duke said.
Cole worked at the Alatrade company in Phenix City, where police arrested him on Oct. 23, the following Monday. He still had Mixson’s car, in which police found blood on the rear passenger’s side door and the back seat, the officer said.
No bond
Cole was represented Tuesday by attorney David Jones, who asked Judge Gray to set a reasonable bond so Cole could be released from the Russell County jail.
District Attorney Rick Chancey argued Cole was a danger to the public and likely to flee, if released. He said Cole had a criminal record in Lauderdale County that included first-degree robbery and a 2016 domestic violence assault charge based on strangulation.
Gray refused to set a bond for Cole.