17-year-old Kaitlyn Coones has been accused of killing her boyfriend's mother and fleeing to Mexico with him. The victim has been identified as Nicole Jones, 53. Coones allegedly gave an ultimatum of five hours to her 33-year-old boyfriend, Jonathan Jones, to kill Nicole. PEOPLE reported that on Friday, it was decided that despite being a minor, Coones would be tried as an adult in the case.
Sylvania Township Police Department Detective Jake Albright told News 19 that Coones believed that Nicole didn't approve of her relationship with Jonathan and, thus, had to be killed. The murder reportedly took place in April.
Kaitlyn Coones reportedly left her foster home in April and, a few days later, allegedly killed her boyfriend's mother
On Friday, November 17, after considering the seriousness of the case, the judge ordered that Coones be tried as an adult and not a juvenile. She has been charged with aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. The charges have been slapped against her in connection to the murder of Nicole Jones, which happened in April 2023. Her indictment took place in August, along with Jonathan Jones.
The authorities got to know about the murder after they conducted a welfare check at the victim's residence in Toledo. They couldn't find the 53-year-old victim at her house. A manhunt for Coones and Jonathan began, and authorities discovered they were last seen in Arizona. They were finally arrested from Chihuahua in Mexico.
Law & Crime Network reported that Kaitlyn Coones was possibly living in Jonathan's bedroom without Nicole's knowledge. Eventually, Kaitlyn Coones gave a window of five hours to Jonathan to kill Nicole. Detective Jake Albright said,
"Kaitlyn had told Jonathan that they needed to do something about his mother because she was preventing them from being together and she gave him five hours to do something about her, and at one point in the interview, she even mentioned killing her."
Jonathan's ankle monitor helped authorities find their location in Mexico
Prosecutors revealed a possible chain of events that occurred when Coones killed the victim. According to Prosecutor Andy Lastra, the teenager attacked Nicole when she was not even aware of her presence in the house. Coones allegedly beat her up with a rock and strangled her to death. Lastra said,
"She went outside retrieved a rock and when Nicole Jones was standing in front of the refrigerator in the kitchen, unaware of Kaitlyn’s presence bludgeoned Nicole Jones a number of times and strangled her."
Kaitlyn's boyfriend, Jonathan, was allegedly in the living room then and later helped her discard his mother's body. Authorities revealed that Coones was living in a group home until she went missing in April. Upon looking into Jonathan's background, police discovered that he was previously found guilty of having an inappropriate relationship with Kaitlyn Coones.
Jonathan had his ankle monitor on when he and Coones fled to Mexico. Authorities discovered that Jonathan was convicted of endangering a child, attempted pandering obscenity involving minors, vandalism, and failure to appear in court. He was sentenced to four years behind bars.