GA vs. Jason Palmer: Murder trial of a trucker’s girlfriend

CAMDEN COUNTY, Georgia (Court TV) – A truck driver accused of killing his girlfriend is facing trial in Georgia.

Jason Palmer is charged with murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another person and first-degree murder in connection with the death of Jessica Goodrich, whose body was found in a wooded area next to a rest stop. Palmer and Goodrich were traveling through Georgia from their home state of Massachusetts at the time.

Jason Palmer (Camden County Sheriff's Office)

According to an arrest warrant, Goodrich's body was discovered next to Roadie's Chevron Truck Stop in Woodbine on October 8, 2022. Goodrich was dressed all in black; she wore oversized basketball shorts and an oversized tank top.

Goodrich had suffered stab wounds to the left side of her chest and the right side of her neck. There were no traces of blood on her body, which appeared to have been washed.

Authorities in Georgia and Massachusetts jointly participated in the investigation, which revealed that Goodrich and Palmer had been in an on-off relationship for nearly a decade, which Goodrich's family described as “tumultuous.”

According to the arrest warrant, on September 30, 2022, Goodrich sent a text message to a relative saying she and Palmer were in Tennessee. She said Palmer choked her and threatened to kill her. The text messages included photos of Goodrich's bruised face and neck. Goodrich also told this family member that she was going to look for flights because she could no longer be with Palmer, stating, “I'm not going to die in the back of his truck or go to jail for kicking his ass.”

A text message from the relative to Goodrich on October 3, 2022, went unanswered.

The warrant further states that on October 19, 2022, Palmer sent a Facebook message to a family member saying Goodrich had returned to Massachusetts and that he had paid for her hotel and train fare. However, Palmer later stated that he dropped Goodrich off at a Pilot truck stop in Wildwood, Florida.

Goodrich's truck was equipped with GPS monitoring that located Palmer's arrival in Wildwood, Florida, on October 7, 2022. The truck was then tracked on the 176-mile drive to Woodbine, where Goodrich's body was found hours later.

This truck was later located at a rest stop in Indiana. He was arrested on October 26, 2022 and eventually extradited to Georgia.