SYLVANIA TOWNSHIP, OH – In a shocking turn of events, a 17-year-old girl, Kaitlyn Coones, stood before a court on Friday, accused of a heinous crime. The young girl is alleged to have killed her boyfriend’s mother, 53-year-old Nicole Jones, with a rock in her Sylvania Township home in May.
Prosecutors claim that Coones had been secretly residing in the room of her boyfriend, Jonathan Jones, within his mother’s house. She allegedly used Jonathan’s bedroom window as an entry point to keep her presence unknown to Nicole. The prosecution suggests that Nicole’s opposition to the relationship between Coones and Jonathan was the driving force behind the murder.
The day of the murder, Coones is said to have given Jonathan a grim ultimatum – to murder his mother within a five-hour window. When he didn’t act, she reportedly extended the deadline by an hour before allegedly taking matters into her own hands. The prosecution claims that Coones strangled Nicole and dealt a fatal blow to her head with a rock while she was rummaging in the fridge, all while Jonathan was in the living room.
After the alleged murder, the pair are said to have bought trash bags and a tarp to wrap Nicole’s body. They cleaned up the crime scene and discarded Nicole’s body in a dumpster at a nearby apartment complex. Investigators fear that Nicole’s remains may never be recovered.
Coones had been reported missing from state custody by Stark County Children’s Services the month before the murder. Following Nicole’s death, local police considered Jonathan a suspect in Coones’ disappearance. It was later suspected that the pair had escaped to Mexico.
U.S. Marshals tracked down and apprehended Jonathan in Mexico on May 8, leading to the discovery of Coones. She now faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Coones’ defense attorney, Ann Baronas, is arguing that her client is a victim of Jonathan.