NATCHEZ &045; The justice attorneys and law officers are searching for is something Wharlest Jackson’s wife turned over to God years ago.

Any closure that comes from recent talks of reinvestigating the case is for her children.

The first real steps into the investigation of Jackson’s 1967 bombing death will come Friday when attorneys meet in Jackson. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced two weeks ago he was interested in reexamining the Jackson case and the 1964 Franklin County deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.

Lampton will meet with District Attorney Ronnie Harper, representatives from the attorney general’s office, FBI and local law enforcement to discuss jurisdiction.

Lampton, representing the federal government, may have jurisdiction in the Moore and Dee cases because they occurred in the Homochitto National Forest. Proving federal jurisdiction in the Jackson case would be harder, he said.

Jackson died in Natchez when a bomb planted under his truck exploded. He was leaving Armstrong Tire, where he had just been promoted to a &uot;whites-only&uot; job.

Without federal jurisdiction the case would belong to Attorney General Jim Hood and Harper.

&uot;The state should have the first opportunity to prosecute the case,&uot; Lampton said.

For Jackson’s widow, Exerlena Jackson Vanderson, the belief that the case would resurface was never gone.

&uot;I always knew and I always prayed that they’d open up that case,&uot; she said from her California home. &uot;I’ve been praying that this would be open. It would be better for the family.&uot;

Of the five Jackson children, three, including Wharlest Jackson Jr. and Denise Ford of Natchez, are still living. Debra Sylvester also lives in California.

Two more sisters were killed in a 1977 car accident.

Sylvester said closure is all she can hope for at this point.

&uot;I myself believe that a lot of these people are old and I doubt very seriously if anybody is alive,&uot; she said. &uot;(A name) still won’t serve the purpose, my dad will never be justified. Justice wasn’t done then and I just don’t believe anybody’s still alive.&uot;

Lampton said Friday’s meeting will serve as a preliminary pooling of information to examine the likelihood that any possible suspects are still alive.

Former Natchez Police Chief Willie Huff and investigators examined the Jackson case in 1998, and Huff said earlier this month that the prime suspect was dead.

Lampton said the time is right for such investigations, and he’s hopeful people with information will come forward in both cases.

Lampton was prompted by Charles Moore’s brother Thomas to take another look at the cases. When he learned of the nearby Jackson case, he added it to the list.