Man gets 40 years for killing pregnant Florida teenager

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A person who pleaded responsible this month to killing a pregnant Florida teenager a decade in the past has been sentenced to 40 years in jail after sending authorities to dig up a area in rural Alabama in a fruitless seek for her physique.

Jacobee Flowers, 34, would have acquired a lighter sentence of 25 years in jail if the stays of Morgan Martin, 17, had been discovered, the Tampa Bay Instances reported. He had instructed authorities in Pike County, Alabama, the place to look of their unsuccessful search earlier this month.

Flowers, the daddy of Martin’s unborn little one, was taken into custody on Tuesday, and apologized for his actions throughout his sentencing on Thursday.

“I need you all to know that I’m a human being. I’m not a monster, regardless of what chances are you’ll assume,” he stated. “There’s not a day that goes by, within the final 10 years, that I haven’t felt the deepest stage of remorse.”

Advert

Leah Martin, the teenager’s mom, wasn’t receptive.

“I hope that daily that you just sleep, it’s a must to see her,” the teenager’s mom, Leah Martin, shouted at Flowers in courtroom Thursday. “Do you perceive me? I hope you see her face and the kid that you just killed. You didn’t solely kill my little one, you killed your individual.”

Courtroom information present Martin left residence one night time in 2012 to talk to Flowers and by no means returned.

For years, her disappearance was categorised as a lacking individuals case, and Flowers was listed as an individual of curiosity. Ultimately, it was assigned to a chilly case squad that discovered proof linking Flowers to her killing — although Martin’s physique had not been discovered.

In 2016 a grand jury indicted Flowers, who was in state custody on unrelated expenses on the time, on a first-degree homicide cost within the teen’s loss of life. Six years handed earlier than he pleaded responsible this month to a lesser cost of second-degree homicide.

Advert

Flowers stated Martin’s physique was buried in a area in Alabama, and as a part of the April 1 plea settlement, he promised to assist authorities recuperate it in trade for a lighter sentence.

In keeping with courtroom information, textual content messages from 2012 confirmed a strained relationship, with Flowers begging Martin to abort the being pregnant as a result of having the child may have an effect on his current relationship with one other girl. Then 24, he was additionally fearful about expenses for having intercourse with a minor, officers stated.

Martin determined to proceed the being pregnant, selecting Ja’Leah as her child lady’s title, the newspaper reported.

Detectives on the cold-case squad obtained cellphone tower information to trace Flowers’ actions the night time Martin disappeared. Information present he drove round her residence after which went to his residence earlier than heading to a restaurant the place he labored the closing shift.

He additionally visited the mom of two of his kids earlier than going again to the restaurant. He then drove all through Tampa Bay earlier than returning to St. Petersburg.

Advert

It was not clear why authorities believed Martin’s stays are in Alabama.

After Flowers pleaded responsible, he spoke with investigators in Alabama over a video chat and pointed them towards a selected location, Pike County Sheriff’s Workplace Lt. Troy Johnson instructed WTSP in Tampa.

Investigators there used ground-penetrating radar to look, and likewise introduced in a backhoe to dig greater than 4 ft (1.2 meters) deep throughout a week-long search that got here up empty.

“Sadly, whether or not it was due to the numerous years which have passed by or due to the shortage of the reliability of the knowledge that we obtained, we simply weren’t capable of finding what we’re in search of,” St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez instructed WTSP.