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The murder of the caregiver, Corey Story, in 2014 led to a Kokomo woman pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Cynthia Coates had allegedly been romantically involved with the 45-year-old Corey before she shot him to death.
An anonymous tip helped investigators solve the murder case and put Coates behind bars for 20 years. The Snapped: Women Who Kill episode brings to light the shocking details of Corey Story's murder as it re-airs on July 9, 2024, at 11 p.m. EST on Oxygen. The official synopsis reads,
"When a man returns home from a party and finds his caregiver shot to death, detectives must sift through a complicated network of animosity and resentment to find their killer."
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Five details about Corey Story's murder explored
1) Corey Story was found with gunshot wounds in October 2014
The 45-year-old Corey Story was a member of the Second Missionary Baptist Church and a caregiver to the wheelchair-bound Tommie Hammock Jr. Tommie had been at his family friend, Louis', birthday party on October 25, 2014. He had returned home to find his garage door open with Story's car in the driveway.
Tommie entered the master bedroom to find Corey unresponsive on the floor. Corey had been shot twice, once in the back of the head and once in the back, with a .38 caliber gun, according to Oxygen.
2) Corey had been taking care of Tommie Hammock Jr and Cynthia's husband Louis
Story was one of the three appointed caregivers of Tommie Hammock Jr. According to the Kokomo Tribune, Tommie had three in-home caregivers, Tiffany Perry, Corey Story, and Mike Williams, who would assist him in his day-to-day activities.
The Kokomo Police Detective, Scott Purtee, shared,
"Other than Mr. Story’s body lying there, everything else appeared to be normal, with the exception of two spent shell casings."
The shell casings were found to belong to a .38 caliber gun. Incidentally, one of the two .38 caliber snubnose handguns that Tommie owned had been missing while the other one was found to be non-functional.
3) Corey and Cynthia allegedly shared a romantic relationship that turned abusive
As the investigations into Corey Story's murder began, Corey's friend revealed that he had been in a romantic relationship with Tommie's family friend, Cynthia Coates since 2012. Cynthia's husband, Louis, had also been restricted to his wheelchair due to a series of strokes and Corey helped her take care of him.
While Corey allegedly ended the relationship in 2014 as he felt uncomfortable about living with a married woman, sources mentioned that there had been instances of abuse from Story's side.
4) Cynthia buried the evidence at her grandaughter's grave
The investigators struggled to unravel the murder case before they received an anonymous tip that stated that Cynthia had confessed to her daughter, Angela Benson, about having shot someone. According to Fox59, the source also mentioned that Cynthia had hidden the evidence at her granddaughter Ciendra's grave.
The authorities visited the grave to find a small area freshly covered from where they unearthed Corey Story's missing care keys, rubber gloves, and parts of a cellphone, per the Associated Press.
5) Cynthia Coates was sentenced to 20 years for voluntary manslaughter
Cynthia Coates was arrested based on the evidence that the authorities collected. She was charged with Story's murder on October 28, 2014. Coates took a plea deal before her trial and was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, according to the Associated Press.
According to the Kokomo Tribune, Cynthia was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 10 years of supervised probation. She is currently serving her time till 2029 at the Indiana Women's Prison.
Catch all the details of Corey Story's murder as Snapped re-airs on Oxygen on Tuesday.
