Sylvia Jackson says she had recurring nightmares after the death of her friend, George Floyd.

“He’d come to me and say, ‘Hey I’m OK,’ or ‘You ain’t got to worry,’ and then I’d wake up and he’s not there,” Jackson recalled. 

As the trials of the Minneapolis police officers accused of killing Floyd moved forward, Jackson says it was often too hard to watch, but she remained a silent party to the judicial process.

Floyd borrowed Jackson’s car on May 25, 2020 and was sitting in her blue 2001 Mercedes SUV the moment officers first approached him at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.

Now, nearly four years after Floyd’s murder, Jackson is still waiting for investigators to return her vehicle.

“All I can do is just hold on,” Jackson said. 

An “active” investigation?

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said on Thursday morning it was still holding Jackson’s car as “evidence in the active criminal investigation” into the death of Floyd.

The agency initially agreed to an on-camera interview this week, but later backed out. 

Then, late Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office contacted 5 INVESTIGATES with an abrupt change of course. 

“Attorney General Ellison has authorized that Ms. Jackson’s car be released to her,” Press Secretary Brian Evans said in a written statement. “While this is a departure from standard evidence-retention processes, we understand the significant burden this presents for Ms. Jackson.”

Evans added that the Attorney General’s office has notified the BCA that it can release the vehicle. A spokesperson for the BCA said it will “be able to share specific information with Ms. Jackson about when that will happen soon.”

RELATED: KSTP’S complete coverage of the George Floyd murder

Previously, Jackson had run into multiple dead ends. In response to her pleas for an update on the status of her car in February, text messages show a BCA agent simply wrote, “I’m still working on it.”

“I wasn’t asking for anything else,” Jackson said. “I just wanted my property back.”

Needing help

Jackson and her three daughters are currently staying at a friend’s apartment in Minneapolis. 

She also has to borrow her friend’s truck to take her children to and from school. But, the greatest barrier to Jackson finding work since she lost her job earlier this year is the lack of reliable transportation.  

“I’ve never been out of work this long,” Jackson said. “Nobody really asked if I needed help or asked if I wanted any.”

Friendship with Floyd

Jackson says she actively avoided most media attention in the early months and years after Floyd’s death.

“By Floyd being my friend and everything… I didn’t come forth and really say too much when it first happened because I didn’t want to feel like I wanted to try to make any money off of him or anything,” Jackson said. “Our friendship was way more than that.”

Their friendship formed when the two both worked security for the Salvation Army and continued until the last day of Floyd’s life, on Memorial Day 2020.

Jackson says she let Floyd borrow her car to get supplies for a barbeque, but when she returned home that afternoon, he was not there. 

“I sent a couple of text messages out asking, ‘Was he ok, what’s going on?’ Never got a response back,” Jackson said. 

Now she hopes sharing her story will lead to more accountability from the state. 

“I really just wanted my property back,” Jackson said. “My property that I paid for and put my hard work in for.”