Ernest and Valerie Reiner, Corwin’s next-door neighbors, testified that she ran to their home around 1 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2023, covered in blood. She asked them to call 911, reporting that Jackson and his girlfriend, Bianca Xheka, had broken into her home and assaulted her.

The jury heard the 911 call, during which Corwin could be heard clearly distressed. She told her neighbors the assailants had taken her phone, leaving her unable to call for help.

Valerie Reiner said Corwin appeared visibly traumatized, shaking, crying and repeatedly stating she was pregnant and needed help.

Lt. Samuel Carr of the Escanaba Public Safety Department testified about his investigation into the assault. He documented footprints leading south from Corwin’s back door and large amounts of blood in her kitchen, on a couch armrest and on a wall.

Footage of Harley Corwin's police interview after she was assaulted in February 2023 was shown to the jury at Tavaris Jackson's murder trial on Monday. (Sophie Vogelmann)

Carr testified that he spoke with Jackson within a few days after the assault at EPSD, possibly on Mar. 4, 2023. The two spoke about Jackson’s activities during the time surrounding Corwin’s assault.

Jackson reportedly told Carr that he was spending the evening with Xheka coparenting at his residence. He left his residence around 7 p.m. to go to Corwin’s residence to hang out. He then told Carr he left Corwin’s home to go get food and a phone charger, but he could not find his phone charger.

Carr said Jackson told him he then went to the gas station to purchase a charger and put gas in his truck. He did not make it back into Corwin’s home because upon arriving, he saw police were at the home and he was detained.

Corwin told law enforcement that the assailants were wearing dark clothing and ski masks, although she recognized Jackson’s stature and Xheka’s distinctive voice.

The jury then heard from two of Jackson’s former girlfriends.

One testified that she dated him for six to nine months in 2016 and spent most of her time at his residence. She described Jackson as verbally and physically abusive, saying he would pin her against walls and scream at her.

She recalled a confrontation near the end of their relationship. While gathering her belongings during the argument, she said Jackson tried to persuade her into staying and began following her out of the home.

Jackson allegedly dragged her by her purse and hid her cellphone.

“I told him, ‘Can you just please let me leave?'” the witness testified.

She said he then lifted her by the neck.

“The next thing I knew, my feet weren’t touching the ground and everything just kind of went black,” she said. After returning home, she contacted law enforcement, who documented marks on her body.

She also told the jury she had texted a friend, saying, “This is probably the last time [you are] was going to see me because he was going to kill me.”

A second former girlfriend testified she dated Jackson on and off for about six months in 2016 or 2017. She described him as emotionally manipulative, saying he would dig his nails into her arm and place his hands around her neck, restricting her breathing.

She recounted an incident on Oct. 25, 2017, while about 20 weeks pregnant. She woke to something wet on her and would later smell a strong chemical odor of what she believed to be lighter fluid.

The witness said she saw a dark-clothed figure standing near her bed, staring at her. She stated she immediately recognized the figure as Jackson.

After he left, she said, she packed her children into her vehicle and drove to her sister’s nearby home, who called 911.

She later contacted her stepfather, who also testified Monday, to pick her up. The two eventually encountered Jackson, and the stepfather confronted him outside his home. The stepfather searched for the witness’ missing phone that day and found it smashed in an alley in Escanaba.

Jackson, 35, faces one count of open murder – a felony punishable by up to life in prison – in the death of his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Harley Corwin. Corwin’s body was discovered in July 2023 near O.B. Fuller Park in Ford River Township.

He also faces one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, a two-year felony, and one count of assault resulting in the death of a fetus, also punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Jackson remains lodged in the Delta County Jail.

—

Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.