Cold-Case Nightmare Resurfaces from Dark Days of Crack Epidemic
In the shadowy depths of the crack cocaine epidemic that ravaged communities during the 1980s and 1990s, countless lives were consumed by addiction and violence. For one family, that painful chapter has been reopened with the recent arrest of a Hamilton man in connection with a murder that had remained unsolved for over three decades.
The Tragic Disappearance of Victoria Jobson
Victoria Jobson, a 30-year-old mother of two from Syracuse, was reported missing by her family on October 11, 1992. Nearly two months later, on December 7, 1992, a passerby discovered her naked body in a vacant lot on Rochester's Rutter Street. The vivacious mother had been stabbed multiple times, with detectives determining she had likely been murdered at a different location before her body was dumped.
At the time of her death, Jobson was described by family members as "Slick Vick" - a fun-loving woman with a killer singing voice who could dance the night away. She had grown up in a blue-collar family, with her father working for General Motors and her mother serving as a nurse's aide. For 14 years, she had been in a relationship with Curtis Washington, the father of her children and a local club DJ.
Descent into Addiction and Prostitution
After her relationship ended, Jobson's life took a tragic turn when she discovered crack cocaine. To support her crippling addiction, she began selling her body, living in a decrepit red brick apartment building along the Genesee River with Tony Jackson, described as her quasi-pimp and quasi-boyfriend.
Her weight plummeted to a dangerously thin 100 pounds, and her parents eventually told her daughter, Keisha Washington, to take custody of the children. Jobson was arrested four times for prostitution before her life was brutally cut short.
Decades-Long Investigation and Recent Arrests
During the height of the crack epidemic, police departments were overwhelmed with drug-related homicides, and like thousands of other cases, Jobson's murder quickly went cold. However, investigators never completely closed the file.
Roy Green, 58, of Hamilton, had been on homicide detectives' radar for decades but proved elusive. According to authorities, Green fled across the border to Six Nations not long after the murder and remained out of reach until his arrest in Hamilton in 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to return to court in April.
His co-accused, Arthur Jason, 57, was arrested on November 4, 2024, in Livingston County on a drug charge. Two days later, an indictment warrant was unsealed, charging Jason with murder in Jobson's death. Rochester's homicide unit has indicated that new information led them to circle back to Green after all these years.
A Family's Ongoing Trauma
For Jobson's daughter, Keisha Washington, the recent developments have reopened wounds that have never fully healed. Washington attended Green's court appearance last Thursday and described the experience as "like a recurring nightmare."
"It's like putting a band-aid on a wound and ripping it off every few years for 32 years," Washington told reporters, expressing the agonizing pain she has lived with her entire life since her mother's murder.
Cross-Border Justice Process
Last Thursday, Green was returned to Rochester in handcuffs with an escort from U.S. Marshals, marking a significant development in a case that has spanned international borders and multiple decades. The arrest represents what authorities describe as "a blast from the past" - an unwelcome reminder of a dark period that many would prefer to forget.
For Jobson's family, the Green and Jason arrests represent a long-awaited opportunity for justice. For the accused, it means facing charges for alleged crimes committed during what law enforcement officials characterize as the "pitch-black days" of the crack epidemic, when normal lives were obliterated in the blink of an eye and despair became a daily reality for countless individuals caught in addiction's grip.
