JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. — The U.S. Marshals Service is offering $5,000 for information on a U.S. Army veteran accused of raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl and then faking his death to avoid charges.
According to The Sun Herald, Jacob Blair Scott of Moss Point was indicted in 2017 on 14 felony charges, including having sex with a minor, after girl showed up at a Mississippi hospital and doctors discovered she was pregnant.
About a year later, the Army veteran entered into a plea agreement with the state, but was given time in June 2018 to have surgery for stage 3 ulcerative colitis before pleading guilty. He was just days away from entering that guilty plea when authorities believe he tried to fake his own death in Orange Beach, Alabama.
In July 2018, detectives said they discovered Scott’s boat about a mile off shore. Inside was a gun tied to a rope, a suicide note that said “I’m sorry,” and a small amount of blood. What they didn’t find was any forensic evidence suggesting a shooting had actually occurred, reported WTVF. Authorities said they would expect to find hairs, fibers, brain matter, blood and other evidence, but they found none of that on Scott’s boat.
They said it was also odd that his body never surfaced in the Gulf of Mexico.
To make things even more suspicious, detectives discovered that he withdrew about $45,000 from a bank account prior to the incident and even told the victim’s mother that he would never spend a day behind bars. Authorities said they don’t know what happened to that money.
His family said he also never had the surgery.
After Scott disappeared, the judge in Jackson County, Mississippi issued an arrest warrant. Since then, U.S. Marshals said they have received reports of Scott being in Denver, Colorado with his family. They are working to track him down.
