Who Shot And Killed Army Staff Sergeant Jessica Ann Mitchell On New Year's Day 2021?

Thirty-year-old SSG. Jessica Ann Mitchell was ringing in the new year with friends at the 4th Quarter Sports Bar in San Antonio, Texas when her night out took a violent turn.

Mitchell, an army dental specialist, was on holiday leave from her duties at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, and left the bar a little after 2 a.m. As Mitchell traveled eastbound along I-10, gunshots rang out near the Vance Jackson Road exit.

Authorities initially believed they were responding to a car crash, according to NBC 4, but they soon realized Mitchell had been shot several times through the driver’s side of her vehicle.

The soldier was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead around 3:20 a.m.

Mitchell was alone in her white Dodge Charger when she left the bar, but the investigation revealed that there was a red SUV behind her not long after she left the bar. There was also red paint transferred onto her car. Police believe whoever killed her fired their weapon from that red vehicle as they traveled on the highway.

Mitchell, a native of Kansas, enlisted in the Army in 2009 after she graduated from high school and spent time at bases in Alaska, Louisiana, and Germany before her assignment at Fort Sam Houston. She left behind a 10-year-old son.

There have been few updates in the year-old case. Immediately after the shooting, Mitchell’s father began asking questions and found out his daughter had confided in her niece that she had to block someone on social media for stalking her. Her father took that information directly to the San Antonio police. It took until July—seven months after the murder—for police to release the surveillance footage of the red SUV they believe was tailing the staff sergeant.

Her death is not the first time the Mitchell family has been touched by gun violence. Mitchell’s brother, Justice, was 18 when he was shot and killed behind a restaurant in Topeka, Kansas in 2017.

In January 2022, police in San Antonio announced that they believe somebody in San Angelo may be able to provide them with some information about the red SUV tailing Mitchell. San Angelo is three hours northwest of San Antonio. Police have not said why they believe there’s a connection between Mitchell and San Angelo.

The Army and Crime Stoppers are offering up to $30,000 in reward money for information about the case. If you have any information about Mitchell’s death, call the Fort Sam Houston Criminal Investigations Division at (210) 221-1628 or Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-STOP (7867).