Gregory Acker found dead in his home; police search for victim's van
A man known to his neighbors as Mr. Fix-it was fatally attacked in his northwest Jackson home, police said Thursday.

Gregory Acker, 49, of 471 E. Ridgeway St., suffered a blow to the head and two stab wounds in his neck, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said.

Police are searching for Acker's missing blue-grayish handyman's van. "No job too small" is written on the van.

Acker is Jackson's 31st homicide of 2003 and the second since Wednesday, when a homeowner fatally shot a man police say was trying to break into his house.

"He was a great guy," said Sarah Wilkinson, one of Acker's neighbors. "Anytime you needed something done, he'd fix it."

Police were called to Acker's home at 3:20 p.m. Thursday after his brother, Geoffrey Acker, found him on the floor in the home's living room.



Gregory Acker had been dead at least 16 hours, the coroner said.

The victim's mother, Marian Acker, said she received a call Thursday afternoon from a man who said her son's van had been sold in Vicksburg, prompting her to look for her son.

She said she didn't know who the caller was. "He talked to me for a while and gave me a phone number where I could call him back," she said. "It wasn't a good number."

Marian Acker, who lives across the street from Gregory Acker, said she immediately went to a work site where her son was supposed to be, but he wasn't there.

Investigators found no signs of forced entry into Gregory Acker's home, police spokesman Robert Graham said.

Police are not sure if Gregory Acker struggled with his attacker. "It didn't appear to be a tidy house," Cmdr. Eric Wall said.

Investigators took from the home several items which could have been used in the killing, Graham said. He would not say what they were.

Gregory Acker spent his free time carving wood, his mother said.

"He built things and took them to craft shows," she said. "He built cradles and tables and decorative things to put on the wall."

Marian Acker said her son made her several things. He also drove a bus for the Mississippi School for the Blind at times, she said.

"We usually saw him every day," Wilkinson said. "He gets up early in the morning and gets his newspaper. He would sit on the steps with his dogs and read his newspaper."

By Thyrie Bland The Clarion Ledger