You Never Know!
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

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A New Orleans Police Department worker moonlighting as an Uber driver was stabbed to death by a passenger who allegedly told cops he woke up wanting to “kill someone.”

Yolanda Dillion, 54, a fiscal analyst with the department, was knifed multiple times Thursday in her car in the parking lot of a Jefferson Parish Travelodge hotel, and later died of her injuries at a hospital, New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson said.

Detectives worked with Uber to determine the identity of her passenger — who had been picked up in New Orleans — and found him staying at the hotel, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said.

Suspect Brandon Jacobs, 29, of Harvey, allegedly confessed to the killing, the sheriff said.

“He stated that he woke up yesterday morning and decided he was going to kill someone,” Lopinto said in a news conference with Ferguson on Friday.

Jacobs was being held without bond on a second-degree murder charge.

The accused killer posted video on Facebook of Dillion dying — and authorities worked with the social media platform to have it taken down, Lopinto said.

“Luckily, he does not have a lot of followers,” he added. 

Jacobs had ordered an Uber rider earlier in the day, planning to kill the driver, but he ended up sparing that person’s life because he realized that he would need to return to his hotel, Lopinto told reporters.

He then hailed a second ride back to the Travelodge where he was staying, and Dillion was the driver who picked up that fare through the Uber app.

After Dillion had taken Jacobs back to his lodgings, the sheriff said, he stabbed her from behind and then “casually” walked to his room.

“We asked him specifically, ‘How did you pick her?’ His response was, ‘I didn’t pick her, Uber picked her.’ Meaning that she was the random person that picked him up that day,” Lopinto said.

Ferguson said Dillion had worked at the department for a decade. He described her as quiet and humble, adding that she did important work for the department.

“This was just something that definitely blindsided everyone,” the police chief said.

Jacobs is believed to be from the New Orleans area originally. He told investigators he had previously been staying around Seattle, but had been back in the New Orleans area for about seven months, Lopinto said.

Dillion was the only child of her elderly mother, Edna Dillion, who is currently battling cancer. She told the station 4WWL that her daughter, who was herself a breast cancer survivor, was her primary caretaker and the family’s breadwinner.

“He just left me with nobody,” Edna Dillion said, referring to his daughter’s alleged killer.

Yolanda was on the verge of earning her PhD in sociology and was driving Uber to pay for her tuition and earn extra cash to buy Christmas presents.97

“The Wire” star Wendell Pierce mourned the death of Yolanda Dillion, whom he knew personally through their church, in a tweet Friday.

Remember her: Yolonda Dillon. My church member for decades, a woman with a heart of gold & a deep love of God was murdered yesterday, The murderous violence of New Orleans & this country has come even closer to me personally. We are in crisis. America has always been this violent https://t.co/mn441vfwiO

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) December 9, 2022

“My church member for decades, a woman with a heart of gold & a deep love of God was murdered yesterday,” the actor wrote. “The murderous violence of New Orleans & this country has come even closer to me personally. We are in crisis.”