Police: Son who Killed Pregnant Mom, Arrested after 19 Years

It’s taken 19 years, but deputies have arrested a 39-year-old man in the death of his mother and her unborn baby.

Christopher “Shane” Knight, of Sun Center Road in Mulberry, was taken into custody, accused of killing his mother and her unborn child in June 1993.

Jahala Watson, 39, and the owner of Jahala’s Place restaurant in Mulberry, disappeared on June 20, 1993, according to Polk County deputies. The last person to have seen her was her then 19-year-old son, Christopher Shane. Jahala was seven months pregnant at the time with a baby boy, investigators said.

Friends reported that mother and son frequently argued about his use of her car, finance, and other household issues.  On Sunday, June 20, the two had an argument, a friend reported and Shane ordered the friend out of the house.  The friend also reported he could hear the argument continuing, after he left.

Jahala was never seen or heard from again and her car was missing. Her body was found on June 22, alongside the roadway of State Road 471 in Sumnter County. An autopsy revealed Jahala died as a result of stabbing and that the unborn fetus she was carrying also died as a result of her being killed. Both death were ruled a homicide, investigators said.

Jahala’s ex-husband (Shane’s father) while searching the house for clues in Jahala’s disappearance, found the clothes Jahala was last seen wearing on Sunday morning, June 20th, along with her cigarettes and lighter, which she, a heavy smoker, never left behind, investigators also said.

According to deputies, Shane Knight has made inconsistent statements throughout the investigation.

In October 2012, PCSO Homicide detectives obtained a warrant from Statewide Prosecutor Nicholas Cox for the arrest of C. Shane Knight, charging him with one count Second Degree Murder and one count Manslaughter in the homicide of his mother, Jahala Watson, and her unborn baby boy, who would have been named Skylar Levi Watson.

Christopher Shane Knight was taken into custody on Thursday, October 25, 2012 and booked into the Polk County Jail.  He will make a first appearance before a judge today.