Dee Dee Jackson: Homicide, Trial, Appeal, and Parole

Dee Dee Jackson’s death on August 27, 1994, was initially ruled an accidental drowning in the swimming pool of her boyfriend, Donald Bohana, at his Ladera Heights, California home. Two years later, after pressure from her ex-husband Tito Jackson and the rest of the Jackson family, the Los Angeles County coroner reclassified the manner of death as homicide by assisted drowning. Bohana was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1998, sentenced to 15 years to life, and released on parole in December 2022 after serving 24 years.

Who Dee Dee Jackson Was

Delores “Dee Dee” Martes met Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. They married in 1972, when Tito was 18 and Dee Dee was 17, and had three sons — Taj, Taryll, and TJ — who later formed the group 3T.¹ The couple separated in 1989. Dee Dee later began dating Donald Bohana, a businessman and former educator in his late fifties. By the summer of 1994 they had been together roughly eight weeks.²

She was 39 years old when she died. Family and friends said she could not swim, and Tito Jackson described her as having a “morbid fear of water.”³

What Happened the Night of August 27, 1994

At about 3:34 a.m., Bohana called 911 to report that someone had fallen into his pool and was drowning. Paramedics arrived roughly seven or eight minutes later. They found Dee Dee lying on her back on the pool deck, her head and neck propped against a tree several yards from the water. Both she and Bohana were nude. She was not breathing and had no heartbeat. The ground under her was wet, but her skin was dry and cool and her hair only damp.⁴

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies reached the scene around 4:05 a.m. Their accounts of Bohana differed. One described him as belligerent and uncooperative; another called him dazed and withdrawn.⁴

The Autopsy

The autopsy documented extensive injuries: bruises across her upper chest and breasts, a torn earlobe, a shoulder laceration, multiple lacerations to her lips and tongue, a blackened right eye, and blunt-force trauma to both sides of her scalp. A forensic pathologist concluded the injuries were consistent with a beating inflicted less than four hours before death. Petechial hemorrhages in both eyes indicated asphyxia. Her blood alcohol level was .22 percent.⁴

One detail cut against the drowning story. Her hands showed no “washerwoman’s skin,” the wrinkling a pathologist testified would appear after roughly 15 to 20 minutes in warm water.⁴

Why the Case Was Reopened

Despite the injuries, the police and district attorney’s office initially treated the death as an accidental drowning, and the official manner of death was listed as undetermined.⁵ The Jackson family refused to accept that. Tito publicly asked how a woman terrified of water had ended up in a pool at all, telling ABC News, “My first question was, ‘Drown?’ What was she doing in the water?”¹

In 1995, Tito, his sons, and his mother Katherine Jackson filed a wrongful death suit against Bohana. Their attorney Brian Oxman ran a parallel media campaign urging the district attorney to reopen the criminal case. Oxman argued publicly that Bohana, who was in financial trouble and had filed for bankruptcy, killed Dee Dee in a rage after she refused to lend him money; a deputy district attorney later said there was “no proof” of that motive.⁶

Roughly two years after the death, Deputy District Attorney Lori-Ann Jones of the family violence unit took over and reopened the investigation. She sent investigators, including water rescue experts, back to Bohana’s home to examine the pool and reassess his account.⁷ Presented with the new reports, Los Angeles County coroner Dr. David Posey changed his ruling in September 1996 from undetermined to “homicide — assisted drowning.”⁶ The defense would later hire forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who called the death “an innocent, accidental drowning” with “no evidence of homicide.”⁵

The Trial and Conviction

Bohana was arrested on March 7, 1997, and charged with second-degree murder under California Penal Code sections 187 and 189.² Trial began June 12, 1998.

Prosecutors argued that Bohana beat Dee Dee severely and then either pushed her into the deep end of the pool or forced her in while she was injured and unable to defend herself. Because she could not swim and feared water, she could not save herself. A water safety expert and paramedics testified it was “almost impossible” to retrieve an unconscious person from the deep end the way Bohana described, and that her body lacked the scrapes and bruises typically seen on someone dragged from a pool.⁴

Bohana testified that Dee Dee entered the pool voluntarily and either had a seizure or passed out because of her high blood alcohol level. He said her injuries came from his attempts to fish her out with a pool cleaning net.⁸

In November 1998 the jury convicted him of second-degree murder. He was sentenced on November 23, 1998, to 15 years to life.⁸

The Appeal

Bohana appealed to the California Court of Appeal, Second District (Case No. B128162), arguing that the evidence of malice was insufficient, that the jury should have received an excusable homicide instruction, and that the court erred by not instructing on involuntary manslaughter.⁴

On October 25, 2000, the appellate court affirmed. It held that substantial evidence supported a finding of implied malice in forcing an injured, unconscious non-swimmer into the deep end. It rejected the excusable homicide theory as inconsistent with Bohana’s own trial defense. And it ruled that because his lawyers had objected to an involuntary manslaughter instruction at trial for strategic reasons, they could not complain about its absence on appeal — an “invited error.”⁴

Parole and Release

Bohana maintained his innocence in prison and was denied parole four times starting in 2007. Dee Dee’s sons attended those early hearings and opposed release, but later indicated they would not object at future hearings.³ On December 29, 2022, the California Board of Parole Hearings granted him parole after 24 years served.⁹

Tito Jackson, who had pressed for a homicide investigation from the start, died on September 15, 2024, at 70 of an apparent heart attack.¹⁰

1
People. Tito Jackson Helped Fight for Justice After His Ex-Wife Dee Dee’s Death
2
Oxygen. Donald Bohana Guilty in Drowning Death of Dee Dee Martes
3
ABC News. Tito Jackson’s Sons Describe Day of Wife and Mother’s Murder
4
FindLaw. People v. Bohana
5
Los Angeles Sentinel. A Jackson’s Accidental Drowning Becomes a Homicide
6
ABC News. Man in Prison in Tito Jackson’s Wife Drowning
7
ABC News. Back to the Death of Michael Jackson’s Sister-in-Law
8
Los Angeles Times. Man Convicted in Ex-Wife of Tito Jackson Drowning
9
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Hearing Results December 2022
10
New York Post. Tito Jackson’s Shocked Sons Pay Tribute After His Death at 70