A judge questioned why two victims were killed after the defendants accepted prison terms.
MIAMI, Fla. — Two men convicted in the deaths of a Miami Gardens minister and her grandson were sentenced after prosecutors and investigators tied the 2013 killings to robbery, though both men declined to explain the violence in court.
Reginald Jackson and Roderick Martin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in the deaths of Annette Anderson and Tyrone Walker Jr., ending a case that began with a crime scene inside Anderson’s home and closed with a combined 65 years in prison. Jackson received 40 years. Martin received 25 years. The plea reduced the case from the first-degree murder charges the men had faced and prevented a trial that could have forced witnesses, relatives and investigators to revisit the details more than a decade later.
The evidence described in public reports focused on a home on Northwest 207th Street in Miami Gardens, where Anderson and Walker were found dead July 16, 2013. Investigators said the victims were bound and shot in the back of the head. Later court accounts said Anderson had been preparing food before the attack and that food remained in the oven when the bodies were found three days later. Police believed stolen items included Anderson’s cellphone, debit card and television, along with Walker’s Xbox game console and debit card. Those items shaped the state’s robbery theory, but they did not fully answer the judge’s final question: why kill them?
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer asked that question during sentencing. She pressed Jackson and Martin to say what could have led them to take two lives. Both men stayed silent. Venzer described the victims as innocent people and said the families would never fully understand what happened. “Could you put some closure on this, gentlemen?” she asked. The silence mattered because the plea ended the case legally but did not create the public explanation that trials sometimes produce through testimony, exhibits and cross-examination.
The plea also followed a false start that showed how fragile the settlement had become. Jackson and Martin had been brought into court days earlier because lawyers said they were ready to resolve the case. The matter was not on the regular court calendar, but Venzer agreed to take it. Jackson scanned the gallery and did not see his mother. He grew angry, saying relatives had been at the courthouse but were told the case would not be called. “I want my mom,” he yelled. He said a prior hearing had been the last time he saw his grandmother before her death and that he wanted his mother present before he accepted a long prison sentence.
The outburst halted the deal. Jackson stood and walked out while handcuffed to Martin, forcing Martin to move with him. Martin later returned alone, but the state would not complete Martin’s plea without Jackson because prosecutors expected Martin’s cooperation if Jackson went to trial. That left both defendants exposed to trial and possible life sentences if convicted. When the case returned to court, both men accepted the same basic punishment structure that had been under discussion before the disruption: 40 years for Jackson and 25 years for Martin.
Jackson’s plea covered two counts of second-degree murder with a firearm and robbery counts. Martin also pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Venzer asked Martin whether he was pleading guilty because he was guilty, and he said yes. Jackson gave short answers as the court completed the plea. Prosecutors had once faced the possibility of seeking the death penalty, but the state did not pursue death sentences under the final deal. The plea spared the families from a trial while fixing punishment after years in which the case had been slowed by pandemic limits, attorney illness and retirements.
Anderson’s death hit Miami Gardens beyond the crime scene because she was known in local church and community circles. She was a minister at Jesus People Ministries and had helped lead prayer and outreach work. Earlier accounts said she hosted Bible study at home and cared about crime in the neighborhood. Walker had moved from Jacksonville only months earlier to live with her. He was studying at ITT Technical Institute, working at Burger King and attending church with his grandmother. Relatives described him as kind and helpful. In his own writing as a teenager, he had named Anderson as one of the people who inspired him most.
The 2013 funeral showed the public weight of the case. Family and friends gathered at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Miami Gardens, where mourners watched photos of the grandmother and grandson and heard officials speak about Anderson’s community role. A pastor briefly announced that someone had been caught, then corrected the statement after the mayor clarified that police had not made an arrest. That moment captured the early pressure around the investigation, when mourners wanted answers and detectives said they were following leads but had not yet named or detained suspects.
By 2026, the courtroom focus had shifted from who would be charged to how the case would end. Jackson had spent nearly 13 years in custody before the final plea. Martin had been in custody for about one year. Defense attorney Jimmy Della Fera said he did not want to prompt another courtroom outburst by asking Jackson to speak more at sentencing. He said there was relief that the matter was over, even as the killings remained a loss for the whole community. The victims’ loved ones declined to comment after the plea in one report.
The final sentence closed the criminal case but left the motive only partly stated through the robbery theory. Jackson and Martin are now serving state prison terms, and the public record ends without either man explaining why Anderson and Walker were killed.
Author note: Last updated May 18, 2026.