Who Killed "Black Jesus"?
By Judd McIlvain. �2003

Editors Note: This is a true story about the research for one of Judd McIlvain's investigative reports.

It was in the early 1970's in Houston, Texas, and it was that time of the year to search for another May TV Sweeps Series. This is the time in your reporting career that you begin thinking that you have done every news investigation you can do, then something just drops into your lap. I was working for the CBS TV affiliate KHOU TV in Houston. Many of my TV investigations were about crimes or problems inside the Houston Police Department. I was not popular with the Police Chief, who thought I had no business investigating his officers.
The Chief once said to me that no matter what story I did on his department there would never be a woman officer riding in a police car in his city. The Chief was not exactly progressive. He looked on me as a "Yankee carpet baggier reporter." However there were many officers on the Houston Force that were "good cops" and kept me well informed about problems and "bad cops."

The story about "Black Jesus vs the "bad cops" was one of those stories that was brought to me by a police criminal informer who had a grudge to settle with a certain police officer who he alleged was selling narcotics out of his "Blue & White" or police car. I will not use the informer's real name, but his street name was "Black Jesus" and at times just BJ. He was an African-American male, 28 years of age, about 5'9" and weighed about 155 lbs. He called me at the TV station and asked to meet him about cops selling dope to kids. I set up a meeting at the Taco Bell close to the station.

It was one of those Houston Hot Spring afternoons and BJ and I sat outside on the front patio so that no one could over hear our conversation. At first he would only give me his street name, "Black Jesus." He told me about a veteran police officer who would sell shots of heroin out of his police unit in north Houston. I told him it's one thing to allege a crime but it is a totally different thing to prove it. I was rather blunt with him and said you are a petty crook and no one is going to believe your word over a police officer. He said I can prove it to you, I can set up a drug buy from a police car. I said OK, prove it.

He took me to his defense attorney's office that was only a few blocks away. His attorney was not there but the receptionist let him use the telephone. He let me listen in on an extension line. I dialed the Police Substation, the phone was answered and the officer said it was the Blank Police Substation. (I am not using the exact substation). BJ asked to speak to an officer he called by name. He was told to hold on. Then someone came to the phone and said he was officer "so-in-so." BJ said it was "Black Jesus" calling and told him he needed a meet. The officer said, what do you need? BJ said the same stuff. The officer said ok I meet you at the regular location on Wednesday, BJ said ok at 2, the officer said yah, when I get there. That was the end of the conversation.

We went back to the Taco Bell and BJ drew me a map of an empty materials supply facility. He mapped out how the officer would drive into the empty yard and pull behind a building. BJ said he would go to the police car and buy the heroin. We then talked about where I could hide two cameras to film the buy. Then I got an idea, I ask BJ if he could actually shoot up inside the backseat of the police car. He said sure the cop wouldn't care. So that was the plan I took back to my news director. (Remember BJ is already a heroin addict and planned to use that heroin before I came along. By the way the station was not going to buy the heroin for him.)

The news director and I had a meeting and went over my suggested sweep series about a cop selling heroin out of his marked police car. The news director was concerned about us taking part in the actual use of the heroin. He did not want BJ to shoot up the heroin in the police or for that matter anywhere else. So the new plan was that he would buy it in the backseat of the police car and then get out and walk away in the full view of our camera that would continue to run. When the police car was gone I would immediately take the heroin for a lab test on film. I then met with our chief photographer and we planed out how to set up the two cameras and a wireless mike on BJ. It was important that he keep the back door of the police car open at all times so we could see what he was doing. We wanted to see the money exchange hands and BJ get the narcotics from the uniformed officer.

I called BJ on the number he had given me and we set up another meeting at the Taco Bell outside in the plaza area. I told him the plan was approved and that we would protect his identity by covering his face during the buy and in our interview after the buy. He agreed. I warned him several times that he was to tell no one about this because it could cost one of us, especially him his life. I told him not to tell his mom or his girl friend. He promised me he would not tell anyone. BJ said he had another job with the sheriff's office for the next week so it would be at least two weeks before he could do the buy with us. He said he was going to be put in a jail cell with a prisoner they were trying to get information from about a crime. I remember saying, "that's a rather dangerous thing to do. Why are you doing that?" He said it paid well and it was not dangerous at all. He said he was a professional police "snitch" or Criminal Informer (CI). So, two weeks and then three weeks went by and I was busy with other stories and I didn't think much about not hearing from him. Then I tried several times to reach him on the phone number he had given me. There was no answer. Then on a Saturday morning about four weeks after our last meeting, I got a call at my home from a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy. (Houston is in Harris County, Texas.) The Deputy identified himself as a homicide detective and asked me if I was working with BJ and he used his real name and then his street name "Black Jesus." He said what kind of investigation or story are you and BJ working on? I said, "detective you know me and you know I can't tell you about my news investigations. They are protected by the first amendment of the constitution." He said, yes, yes, I know Judd, but you have to tell me now because we just found "Black Jesus'" body dumped in the North part of the county. I was totally shocked. I said but how did you know he was working with me? The detective said we found your business card stuck on the front of his body and your private business phone number was on the back of the card. He said I think someone was trying to send you a message about the investigation you and BJ were working on. I was truly shocked and surprised. It was like some TV Cop Show. I asked the detective if he could meet me at the station on Monday and we could go over BJ's role in my investigation.

When we met the detective told me that BJ had been shot in the head execution style somewhere else, perhaps inside the City of Houston, and then his body dumped out in the County. The deputy asked me how he got my business card, and I told him I gave it to him at our last meeting at Taco Bell and I watched him put it in his pocket. Because of his thick accent I was afraid he would have a problem getting through the receptionist so I wrote my private station number on the back on the card. I explained what we had planned to do with hidden cameras, but of course now the story was dead. The deputy said, "I guess they literally killed your source." That was certainly true.

Later the detectives told me they had found the van they believed that was used to transport BJ's body to the North part of the County. They also said that he had bragged to his girl friend that he was going to be on TV with Judd McIlvain and teach the cops a lesson.

I tried to continue my investigation but there were no more sources and all the information dried up. I even staked out the old materials facility to see if any cops might show up, but nothing came of that. Of course the sweep series was never done but there is a retired police officer (if he is still alive) out there that knows about this story better than I do. He is the one who spoke on the phone form the police substation that day while I listened in on the extension. And for the killers of BJ, if they are still alive, they will someday meet justice for their crime at a higher power.

BJ's mother had a nice funeral for him at their local church in South Houston. And to this day she must still wonder why her son got a huge flower arrangement from the TV Station that said "thanks for trying and my God Bless you."
The Houston Police Department is much different today, and this article is not meant to be an indictment of all the fine officers I worked with in Houston. But BJ did not deserve to be shot to death. He was one of many young black men whom I met who were caught up in the system because they were addicts. These young men could be used and abused in the system and there was almost nothing they could do about it. I asked Black Jesus why he wanted to do this with me and put his life on the line? He said I am 28 years old and I have not been an angel, but cops selling dope to kids is wrong and maybe I can start to turn my life around by doing this. Then is paused, and added with a smile, my mom still thinks there is some good in me, lets hope she is right.

Well, "Black Jesus" in Heaven there are no "Black Angels" they only come in one color, and that's no color at all.

Editor's Note: 1) Why was the CI 's street name "Black Jesus?" His fellow street people said he was strangely religious for an addict.
2) Why did they always meet at Taco Bell? Judd says it was because he liked the food, and it was within five minutes of the station.
3) Was anyone ever charged in this killing? No, it is still an open case.

Filed May 2003