On October 28, 2023, officers responded to a welfare check on South Stone Street in Nacogdoches, Texas, and found 73-year-old Laura Sanford and her 48-year-old daughter, Laquice Sanford, dead of apparent gunshot wounds. The Nacogdoches Police Department’s Patrol, Criminal Investigation, and Technical Services divisions led the inquiry. Evidence collection and interviews identified 41-year-old Ronnie Jernigan Jr., the daughter’s boyfriend, as a suspect. A Nacogdoches County Grand Jury indicted Jernigan for capital murder on April 3, 2024, and he is held in the county law enforcement center.

Laura Sanford was born December 11, 1949, worked as a teacher in San Francisco, California, and was married to the late Kenneth Ray Sanford. She was preceded in death by her daughter Laquice Kaye Sanford and is survived by two sons, Kenneth and Kelvin, plus several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Funeral services for Laura were held November 11, 2023, at the Garrison Church of Christ in Garrison, Texas.

If anyone has information about the deaths of Laura and Laquice Sanford, please share what you know with investigators.