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A Marine Corps veteran has been rearrested and indicted in the 2016 killing of an 11-year-old Houston boy who was stabbed as he walked home from school, authorities said Tuesday.
Andre Timothy Jackson Jr., 30, was arrested by Houston police officers, who had him under surveillance for several days. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters the indictment was handed down by a grand jury after authorities presented "newly-tested scientific evidence." Ogg declined to discuss the evidence, only saying it had been sent to a lab in Florida. However, authorities said the newly tested DNA evidence matched the victim, 11-year-old Josue Flores.
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“We now believe we can bring justice to Josue’s family,” Ogg said.
Flores was killed on May 17, 2016, as he walked home from a science club meeting at Marshall Middle School just north of downtown Houston. Authorities said the boy was stabbed at least 20 times.
Jackson was arrested and charged with Flores' murder weeks after the killing, but prosecutors dropped the charge in July 2017, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to try him or uphold a conviction.
Andre Timothy Jackson Jr. was indicted by a grand jury in Houston in the death of Josue Flores. (Houston Police Department / Harris County Sheriff’s Office)
Houston Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said Tuesday that Jackson always remained a suspect for investigators.
"For the past 3 years, our department has worked tirelessly to bring justice to Josue, the Flores family, and our extended community," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a statement. "... we look forward to supporting the Flores family as this case proceeds through the criminal courts."
Jackson had been living at a Salvation Army shelter when he was first arrested in 2016. Finner said officers on Tuesday took him into custody during a traffic stop in Baytown, a Houston suburb where he now resides.
In a YouTube video issued last month following a police news conference held on the third anniversary of Josue's killing, Jackson proclaimed his innocence and criticized police for continuing to name him a suspect in the case.
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Jackson called the police news conference in May a "publicity stunt" and "a form of harassment."
"I am not Josue's killer. I am not a killer," he said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he and Acevedo visited with Josue’s family last week to let them know about the new developments in the case.
“We cannot bring back Josue, but we can bring justice in his memory and protect other children in our community,” Turner said.
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Jackson wasn’t the first person charged in the case.
A 31-year-old man with a long criminal history had been charged days after the killing, but that charge was dropped when detectives found evidence to support his alibi.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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