An Ohio girl charged with murdering her adult boyfriend’s mother after giving him an ultimatum has been sentenced, as has her boyfriend, who assisted in the disposal of his mother’s body, according to authorities.
Kaitlyn Coones, 18, and Jonathon Jones, 34, pled no guilty to aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse in Nicole Jones’ 2023 death, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said in a statement obtained by Fox 8, WTOL, and WTVG. After being convicted, the couple was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Before the plea agreement, Coones, who was 17 at the time of the murder, had been charged as an adult, PEOPLE previously reported. Prosecutors dismissed several additional allegations against Coones and Jonathan as part of the plea agreement.
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Prosecutors earlier stated that Coones acknowledged killing 53-year-old Nicole on April 19, 2023, by bludgeoning her over the head with a rock in her Toledo, Ohio, home because she believed Nicole disapproved of her relationship with her son.
On April 11, 2023, Coones went AWOL from her foster home and moved in with her lover Jonathan, who was living with his mother Nicole at the time. Coones allegedly offered Jonathan five hours to kill his mother, threatening to stop their relationship if he didn’t. When Jonathan did not murder his mother, Coones committed the crime, according to authorities.
Court documents acquired by WTOL show that Coones and Jonathon then disposed of Nicole’s remains in a dumpster at an apartment building. According to the site, authorities have yet to find Nicole’s body.
“In their recorded interviews, both defendants detailed wrapping Nicole Jones’s body in tarps and placing her in the trunk of her own vehicle,” prosecutor Jennifer Liptack-Wilson told WTVG. “The two of them had dinner with the body of Nicole Jones still in the truck of the vehicle.”
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The couple then fled to Mexico, where they were apprehended in May 2023, weeks after the murder, according to Fox 8. The US Marshals Service previously stated that Jonathon was wanted in Wood County for peddling obscene material and child endangerment, while Coones was designated an endangered missing child from Canton, Ohio. He had already been convicted of the crimes but had avoided sentence.
Following this week’s punishment, Coones and Jonathon will face a wrongful death lawsuit filed in April by Nicole’s estate administrator, according to court documents acquired. According to the WTOL, the lawsuit seeks $25,000 in damages and additional expenses.
Nicole’s brother, Robert Jones, told the court how his sister’s death affected him.
“The agony of losing Nicki is compounded by the unimaginable betrayal we feel,” Robert Jones told WTVG. “We are denied the closure that comes with laying a loved one to rest, and we are haunted by unanswered questions and horrific imaginings of her final moments.”