Sierra Jamison killed After Speaking Against Violence

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There’s a reason Black people, Black women especially, have turned the sentence “Protect Black women” into a call to action. We say, “Protect Black women” because far too often Black women and girls are killed or go missing and they get ignored by the media and under-investigated by law enforcement. In fact, it’s often the case that even Black people, especially Black men, are dismissive about Black women in girls being under-protected in and outside of the Black community. The truly shameful reality is that even Black women who advocate for the safety of Black women aren’t safe themselves.

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Such is the case for Sierra Jamison.

According to CBS Chicago, last week, shortly after celebrating her 30th birthday, Jamison was allegedly strangled to death in Chicago by 63-year-old Lawrence Boyle, whom she had been friends with for a decade before they got involved romantically, according to prosecutors who have charged Boyle with Jamison’s murder.

Not long before her violent death, Jamison was interviewed by CBS, during which time she talked about an attempted carjacking she suffered in 2022 and talked about violence against women.

“I guess because we’re women and they think we’re easy to target,” she told CBS 2. “I guess that’s the situation. I guess that’s the issue, because we’ll probably be more vulnerable to give up and let go whatever the case may be.”

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CBS reports that prosecutors believe Boyle strangled Jamison in a parking garage where she parked her Jeep. He then took her cell phone and then covered her body with a green tarp. A short time later, Jamison’s mother went to the garage and found her daughter under the tarp.

Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers told the judge, “He used his two hands to suffocate the life out of someone he was in a dating relationship with.”

This could be yet another case where a Black woman was attacked by a jealous boyfriend or a man whom she rejected. Either way, it appears Boyle has a history of violence against women, among other crimes and abuses.

CBS 2 Investigators report that Boyle was charged in 2011 with domestic violence, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon before that case was dropped. In 1993 he was also convicted of child abuse in North Carolina.

Prosecutors said Boyle admitted to his ex-wife and to the police that he strangled Jamison.