17-Year-Old Killer Realizes She's Going To Prison For Life

追加: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]She's sitting in the room with two FBI agents in a lock facility. Did you take a picture of her body?

[00:00:07]>> No, not that I know of. Did I?

[00:00:10]>> What's this right here?

[00:00:14]You sent that picture to Michael.

[00:00:17]Is that a picture of Nicole body? Cuz it looks like there's she suffered some type of trauma there.

[00:00:24]>> He was really low because he did that.

[00:00:26]This is Caitlyn Coons, 17 years old. And when investigators sat her down, she had already told at least four different people that she killed someone. A nurse at her group home, a man she thought was a cartel contact, the FBI, and herself in text messages sent from her own phone. In April 2023, 53-year-old Nicole Jones vanished from her home in Sennsylvania Township, Ohio.

[00:00:55]Her son Jonathan lived with her. Weeks later, a welfare check reveals signs of a violent struggle in the kitchen.

[00:01:03]Blood, evidence of a cleanup, but no body. Nicole Jones has never been found.

[00:01:10]Jonathan Jones was 33 years old. His girlfriend Caitlyn was 17. He had been secretly hiding her in his room inside his mother's house without Nicole ever knowing she was there. Prosecutors later stated that the relationship itself was illegal and Nicole, a 53year-old woman living in her own home, was seen as the problem. The obstacle, the person standing between them. So Caitlyn gave Jonathan 5 hours to do something about it. You gave him a specific period of time to get rid of his mother, to kill his mother, cuz she was in the way keeping you guys from being together. After it was done, the two went to Lowe's and bought cleaning supplies, wrapped Nicole's body in a tarp, dumped her in a dumpster at a nearby apartment complex, then went to Waffle House, then fled to Mexico, and somewhere along the way, Caitlyn started telling everyone what they had done. She told a nurse. She told a man she thought could get her into a drug cartel. She told FBI agents in explicit detail. And then she sat down in this room with a prosecutor and a detective and tried to take it all back. Watch as Caitlyn spends over an hour insisting she walked in on Jonathan, that she was scared, that she didn't remember anything. And watch what happens when the prosecutor quietly lays out every single thing she already told everyone else. At the end of this video, you will see the sentence Caitlyn Coons received.

[00:02:57]Thank you.

[00:02:59]>> This is much nicer TPD.

[00:03:01]>> Is it now?

[00:03:02]>> Yeah, it is. I've been there. It is a little nicer.

[00:03:07]>> So, I'm Aaron Kennedy. I'm the prosecutor on this case. Um, my understanding is you want to speak with us in the comments.

[00:03:14]>> Okay. You believed your rights remain silent. You're here with your attorney.

[00:03:19]>> Have you read this uh proper agreement?

[00:03:21]>> Yes, I have.

[00:03:22]>> Okay. Do you understand what's contained therein?

[00:03:24]>> Mhm.

[00:03:25]>> Okay. So, if any part of what is not truthful is said here today, we can completely disregard this agreement.

[00:03:32]Okay. And we can also subject you to a polygraph test. Do you understand that?

[00:03:36]>> Okay. And you still want to speak with us.

[00:03:38]>> Okay. So, this is really this is for you. This is your chance to help yourself, right?

[00:03:43]>> Tell your side of the story. I know we've already made statements before.

[00:03:48]So, what I want you to do is just start.

[00:03:52]Tell it from the beginning to the end.

[00:03:54]Don't leave anything out. I ask you to be truthful. I don't want to be pulling things out of you. This is your chance to help you. Okay.

[00:04:03]>> You want to speak loud enough for me?

[00:04:05]>> Yep. Because this is being recorded.

[00:04:07]Okay.

[00:04:10]>> So, I'm probably going to let Detective All right. Take a lead on this. I'll have some specific things, but like I said, just I want to hear what happened.

[00:04:17]I want you to be truthful, and I've got some specific things I'll come back with. Okay.

[00:04:22]>> Okay.

[00:04:24]>> We've met before. I'm Detective Albbright. And u I want to kind of look at I'm going to I'm going to follow the timeline of what we know happened in all this. Okay.

[00:04:39]And some of this has been found through, you know, fiscal evidence investigation and by your own admissions. Um, so we'll kind of keep it to this for the major outline and then if we have any details you want to add or any specific things we want to know about, we'll work that out. So, um, Jonathan Jones, um, see what relationship did you have with Jonathan?

[00:05:11]>> I would, um, I don't know what to say about that type of relationship. I would say like at first like it was just a friend then boyfriend, but then like just a manipulator like he just abused me and stuff like that. So, I don't know what you would call that. Okay.

[00:05:30]>> In what way did he abuse you or manipulate you?

[00:05:34]>> He raped me multiple times and stuff like that.

[00:05:40]>> Did you ever have a consensual relationship with him >> for a minute? Yes, we did.

[00:05:47]>> Okay.

[00:05:47]>> Would you define a minute? What do you mean by a minute? Like so like the to the two months I was with him for three months back whenever before he caught the case that he caused for the kidnapping and says crimes against me for the two months I it was consensual but then after a while he wouldn't let me leave like he would threaten to kill himself and stuff like that. So I stayed with him but he would rape me and stuff whenever I would be asleep. And then before this all the case that started just now or whatever before you know whatever h what happened or whatever um I was with him or whatever. But I specifically like told him before everything happened that like I did not want to be at the house unless she knew that I was at the house because prior to it happening.

[00:06:36]>> We'll slow down.

[00:06:37]>> Okay. Sorry that was a little bit too much. Well, no. I know how you I've been with you enough to know I need to I want you to back up. Let's talk about what happened down in Wood County.

[00:06:48]>> All right.

[00:06:49]>> When when he got the charge specifically related to you, which led to his troubles with Wood County court, >> so basically his mom kicked us out of the house or whatever after finding out that the food was going on in her house.

[00:07:04]And he did the same thing that he did to me. He was basically like, "Well, kill me. this kill me. And then, you know, he just ended up leaving her at the house.

[00:07:11]I mean, leaving her at the house and we left and that's when we started living in the streets. You know, we went and stayed at his friend's house. And then >> who's the who's the friend?

[00:07:20]>> I don't know the friend's name.

[00:07:21]>> Where did he live?

[00:07:22]>> Like it was like a like a like I feel like it's an apartment cuz it's like this was this side of the his friends and then this was somebody else's and then it was like a a garage like there was a car here.

[00:07:33]>> Was this in Bowling Green? Was this? No, it was here in in Sylvania or whatever.

[00:07:38]I just don't know exactly where we're at.

[00:07:40]>> But um while that happened or whatever, like he was taking pictures of me and >> um at first like I was into it like I you know I was involuntary like it was consensual at first but then it turned into unconsensual or whatever like he was just going a little bit too far with it by raping me and then hitting me and all like spanking all types of craziness or whatever.

[00:08:03]But how the case got started or whatever is we were walking um we I got overly intoxicated at a motel or whatever and we were walking and like I was just sluggish. I didn't know what was happening and the officer like they asked me and stuff and then like I couldn't even tell I can't even speak to them. Like truthfully I didn't know what was happening.

[00:08:28]>> Where was this? It was like a truck lane. I don't know where it was at, but it was like a hotel or motel and then there was like a truck lane. Then there was like a gas station and we were we came back from the gas station, but we were walking in the truck lane or whatever. They pulled us over because we were in the truck lane and they thought that, you know, I was trying to pro right there in the truck lane, but I wasn't prostituting in the truck lane.

[00:08:51]And they took me and they took him and he had a gun on him. He had marijuana on him and they charged him with kidnapping and sex crimes because prior to that I got taken from the Emily's program where I was in there for my eating disorder.

[00:09:03]That's how that whole case got started for that.

[00:09:08]>> Okay. So this was back in 2022.

[00:09:13]>> October of 202.

[00:09:14]>> Yeah. So you guys get stopped. Is that a truck stop somewhere in Wood County down south of here?

[00:09:21]>> Yeah, I guess.

[00:09:22]>> Okay. I don't know exactly where it was at.

[00:09:24]>> Um, so the officer encounters you guys at the truck stop cuz a lot of things go on at those places and I've I've seen the report and uh somehow someway the officer ends up finding pictures of you either on his phone or your phone, something of that nature. Is that correct?

[00:09:44]>> Yeah, he like he had pictures of me. He has a whole bunch of pictures of me and then not on top of that then he has pictures like that. have sent him or whatever back whenever we very first met.

[00:09:55]>> Okay. So based upon that he gets charged in Wood County ultimately gets convicted of those crimes related to that incident. Then he the judge lets him out uh waiting on his sentencing. Okay.

[00:10:14]>> Right. Now, let's fast forward and we get to um 2023.

[00:10:23]Okay. And then around April um well, prior to April, you'd been in the hospital, correct?

[00:10:31]I'm in Canton.

[00:10:34]>> Yeah, I think so.

[00:10:35]>> I was in Cleveland.

[00:10:37]>> Cleveland. Okay. I had my um car accident where I had a traumatic brain brain um injury or whatever and um I got out of the hospital and um I was staying at this group home.

[00:10:52]>> How long were you in the hospital?

[00:10:55]>> Like two months.

[00:10:56]>> Okay. And did you Why were you there so long?

[00:11:01]>> I don't even know why I was there for so long. I think it's because my case worker was wait like trying to find me um treatment a treatment facility or like somewhere for me to go basically like placement because like I have so many issues like I have my self harming my depression and then my anger and my aggression problems.

[00:11:18]>> So So you would say that you've had a lot of issues. You're probably well known in Canton Stark County because of all those issues, right?

[00:11:29]>> Yeah, I have a bit bad running away issues. And they so they were having some issues finding a place for you to to go. Correct.

[00:11:36]>> Right.

[00:11:37]>> Okay. So they at some point were you in the hospital?

[00:11:43]Did you become friends with someone?

[00:11:46]>> A nurse?

[00:11:47]>> No. I did not become friends with another nurse.

[00:11:50]>> No.

[00:11:50]>> No.

[00:11:51]>> And that you conversed with?

[00:11:53]>> There was a what was her name? I don't even remember the person name. I know there's so many like there was a lot of like uh sitters and stuff that like I talked to and stuff, but >> this this particular person um she called you Kit Kat.

[00:12:12]You >> remember who that is?

[00:12:13]>> No, I think so.

[00:12:14]>> Okay. Um Rebecca Callahan.

[00:12:21]>> No, I don't remember who that is.

[00:12:23]>> Okay. Because you exchanged many texts with her.

[00:12:28]and told her about some of the things that you were involved in and ultimately that information came to us and then this whole thing transpired and here we are.

[00:12:44]>> Kaitlyn, you don't remember telling her I killed someone?

[00:12:48]>> No, I don't remember ever saying that. I never had my phones whenever I was with Jonathan. So, I don't we I talked about this with multiple people from my like with that's involved in my case because they showed me the messages, but like I got my phones back whenever I came back from Mexico. So, I don't know what happened with what was going on with that.

[00:13:08]You didn't have your phones the entire time you were with Jonathan.

[00:13:12]Okay.

[00:13:13]>> All right. Well, I'm going to let you keep going.

[00:13:17]>> I I mean, I I did have my phones, but I didn't have my phones, if that makes sense. No, explain it.

[00:13:23]>> So, like whenever I was on the run with Jonathan or whatever, like my whole like my whole mind, right, I like totally like I don't remember anything that happened. I don't remember anything that happened. All I remember is like waking up multiple times, going right back down, waking up multiple times, going right back down. There is point in times where I do remember being on my phone, but I don't specifically remember ever texting nobody. But most of the time though, Jonathan had my phone. He was doing black internet web stuff, looking up maps to Mexico and all that type stuff. So, I never paid attention to him with that because I didn't mess with him. I thought that he was dangerous.

[00:14:02]So, that's what I'm saying.

[00:14:04]>> Okay. So, you are at this group home now. After you get out of the hospital, they put you in this group home in Canton area, right?

[00:14:16]And at some point you leave there, >> right, >> and make your way to Sylvania to Jonathan's house. Is that correct?

[00:14:26]>> Right.

[00:14:26]>> Okay. How did you get to Jonathan?

[00:14:30]>> So he arranged for me. He was I guess this is what I figured out. So he basically I guess he was sending pictures of me that he already had from all the way back from Wood County case or whatever. He was sending a whole bunch of like they, you know, bad inappropriate pictures or whatever to this person and, you know, was saying like, "Oh, she will do stuff for you to, you know, get to go right down here or whatever." But I didn't know that. So, whenever I got in contact with the person, I'm like, "Well, I'm at the time 17 or whatever." I was like, and I'm not really trying to do that stuff or whatever. I'm like, can I just get a free ride without having to do anything or whatever. So, the person comes and like halfway through the ride or whatever, we had to end up doing stuff because that's what Jonathan, I guess, promised him or whatever. And that's when I ended up getting it was like Shaun's Tavern or something like that.

[00:15:18]That's where the car ended up at was Shan's Tavern. And after I got out of the car and went into Sean's Tavern, well before we went in there, we hugged and stuff and we were like, "I missed you and stuff." And after that, we went into Sean's Tavern and we sat down and we were just talking about everything that happened like him being locked up and what happened with me. You know, I showed him my scar and stuff and told him that I was in a car accident again or whatever. just basically repeating everything. And then after that, that's when, you know, he was like, "Well, we have to stay out or whatever until my mom goes to sleep." And I'm like, "That's weird. I'm not about to stay out until your mom goes to sleep." But mind you, we start smoking, drinking or whatever. And I'm he he didn't. So, basically, he had alcohol already on him and then weed already on him. But we start smoking and drinking or whatever.

[00:16:07]And we're just walking around going places. We went to this one abandoned house that they were like redoing that was near the house or whatever. And he tried to mess with me. I was like, "No."

[00:16:17]And stuff. And like I kept telling him, I was like, "I'm not going to do that.

[00:16:20]I'm not I'm not going to the house. I'm not going to the house." Like she if she don't know that I'm there, then I don't feel comfortable. I'm already on the run. That makes me feel paranoid that I have to go into her house and her not know that I'm there. And so then at some point, I guess that we ended up at the house or whatever. And next thing I know is that I wake up.

[00:16:40]>> All right. How did you get in the house?

[00:16:42]>> I don't remember.

[00:16:43]>> Okay. Where were you staying while you were in the house?

[00:16:47]>> In his room, it's like it's like So the door right here, then right here, then right the bathroom's right here. The door is right there.

[00:16:56]That's his room.

[00:16:57]>> Okay.

[00:16:58]>> And then like whenever I was staying in his room though, like he like when I woke up or whatever, he blocked it off or whatever. But I guess you you're asking me more questions. But that's when I woke up and I'm like, >> "What do you mean by blocked?"

[00:17:13]>> Like he had like his dresser, not dresser, but like the tent like the 10, he had 10 foils in there. So like back whenever I was living with him, he kept his clothes and stuff in the foil. I mean, not foil things, the bend things.

[00:17:24]He had the bend things back up against the door or whatever. And like that's how it was when I woke up. And I was just like, and then like he was right there. And I'm like, and I told him I was like, "What's happening?" He talked about, you know, whisper, whisper. No, I'm not whispering. What's happening?

[00:17:39]You know what I mean?

[00:17:40]>> And so I text on my phone. I'm like, you're going to tell her that I'm in I'm here or whatever. I was like, I'm going to give you 5 hours to tell her that I'm here or else I'm leaving. I have other guys that would happily take me. And then that's when I went back to sleep.

[00:17:54]Not sleep, like I laid down or whatever.

[00:17:56]I don't want to mess up my words. I was going back to sleep. And in like 30 minutes to like an hour, that's when I hear babe, babe, babe. And I'm like like I don't even know if I should get up.

[00:18:08]It's like that gut feel like you just know something went wrong. So I like slowly like get up and I like walk out of the room and then I walk this way and I'm like looking everywhere. Then I walk in and I look this way and there she is on the ground. There's a rock by him.

[00:18:24]>> Who's she?

[00:18:26]>> He said who's she? Nicole.

[00:18:28]>> Nicole. His mother. Okay. Go ahead.

[00:18:30]>> There she is on the ground. He has his hands on her neck and he's telling he's asking me to help him. He's like, "Babe, can you please help me?" And I'm like, "No." And then that's when I went to the couch and I lay down. And then then he I didn't even know what to do with myself.

[00:18:45]I literally kept saying, "This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

[00:18:48]Then next thing I know, he picks up the rock. It's banging her head more. And I'm like, "No, this can't be happening.

[00:18:53]This can't be happening." And then after that or whatever after that happened, he he told me I had to go to the store and I went with him.

[00:19:16]I went to the store. He got clean, supplies, and a whole bunch of stuff.

[00:19:20]And he went we went back to the house or whatever. And then after that happened, he cleaned up the mess on the ground.

[00:19:28]He moved her body into the he like turn turned her over or whatever. And then after that happened, he ended up packing up everything. He moved the body into the car. I helped him carry the body to the car. And then after that happened, he drove and then he ended up cutting off his ankle monitor. Oh, no, no, no, no. I guess he had it on. I thought he cut it off before, but he drove to this apartment place and he got out of the car. I got out of the car and mind you the body didn't feel the same the time that I felt whenever I was at the car or whatever. Before it was like it wasn't as heavy then it was heavy soon as we got to the poop the parking place and then after that I helped him hear the body and dump it in the dumpster and then after that he cut his sle water off and then he fled.

[00:20:31]Basically that's what happened.

[00:20:37]when you saw him uh in the kitchen with his hands around her neck. It was the kitchen, right?

[00:20:46]>> Right.

[00:20:47]>> Okay. Where at? I mean, it's a fairly good size kitchen. Where specifically?

[00:20:54]>> This is the fridge and this is this. The body's right here.

[00:20:59]There's blood all around the head part and there's even like brain matter over here. And he's standing over here with his hands right here. And the rock is literally like just like right there with blood on the top of it. And I'm all the way over here.

[00:21:15]How? So he was calling your name while he was strangling her. Had his hands around her neck.

[00:21:24]How long did that go on? How long would you estimate that that was going on?

[00:21:28]>> I don't know. I really don't know. I was panicking. But I do know that like before though before I walked in that he was banging her head with a rock or whatever because there was stuff all over the ground.

[00:21:44]There was blood on the rock.

[00:21:48]Okay, let me give you a little piece of information.

[00:21:54]So that GPS that he had on him, okay, we have those records that tells us where he was at, when, and for how long. Okay, you were obviously with him.

[00:22:09]So after the killing, okay, you mentioned that you guys went and got cleaning supplies, right?

[00:22:19]>> Right.

[00:22:20]>> Okay. Did you put the body in the in the car first before you went and got the cleaning supplies or did you leave the body there and go get >> body there?

[00:22:28]>> You went got the supplies. Where'd you go?

[00:22:33]>> Was it a tractor? But no, it was I don't know. I don't All I remember is checking stuff out. I don't remember what store we went to.

[00:22:42]>> Okay. And did you both go in the store?

[00:22:46]>> Yeah, we both went into the store. She just confirmed that she walked into Lowe's with Jonathan after Nicole's body was in the house. Think about what that means. A woman had just been killed in the kitchen and Caitlyn, 17 years old, walked into a hardware store and helped pick out tarps and trash bags and cleaning supplies.

[00:23:09]Not under threat, not at gunpoint.

[00:23:12]She walked in, she checked out, she went back to the house, and she helped wrap the body. The defense will argue manipulation. The defense will argue trauma. The defense will argue that a teenager in a controlling relationship had no real choice. But the prosecutor has her on video calmly shopping at Lowe's while Nicole Jones lay on the kitchen floor waiting to be disposed of.

[00:23:42]That is not someone acting under duress.

[00:23:44]That is someone executing a plan.

[00:23:47]>> Okay. You got the items, you came back out. Where'd you go from there? Back to the house. Okay.

[00:23:56]>> I'm pretty sure I don't I don't remember anything. I like for real for real like I really don't remember stuff for word for not word for word but detail for detail but I know at some point the stuff was bought and I know at some point he was cleaning it up and I remember at some point we went to the apartment place and I know at some point he was packing up the stuff that's what I know.

[00:24:16]>> Okay.

[00:24:18]What happened to all the cleaning supplies?

[00:24:21]>> He throws it all away.

[00:24:23]>> And and where where did they get thrown?

[00:24:24]>> In the trash bag that he bought from the store. Okay. And so it was put in the trash bag. What do you do with the trash bag?

[00:24:33]>> He set it out for trash day because he said it was trash day >> the next day.

[00:24:37]>> Mhm. He said that being cuz he lived there or whatever. He said that the trash day was going to be the next day.

[00:24:42]So he left it out.

[00:24:44]>> Yeah. It was written right on the refrigerator >> that the trash day is the next day.

[00:24:50]>> Yeah.

[00:24:51]Um, so the the body itself, you guys, so after the cleanup, you guys put the body where >> we put the body in the backseat of the car.

[00:25:04]>> The back seat or the trunk area.

[00:25:06]>> Like he he laid down the seats or whatever and the body was like right there.

[00:25:10]>> Okay. Cuz it's like a hatchback type car, right? And then Okay.

[00:25:14]>> It was her car, her van.

[00:25:15]>> All right. So, um, did you just throw her back there or >> No, he was like scooter.

[00:25:22]>> Scooter. Okay. But was what was she in?

[00:25:26]I mean, >> he wrapped her up in a tarp or whatever.

[00:25:29]It was like both tarps or whatever. He tried to do it with a trash bag at first, but it didn't work. So, he did it with a tarp.

[00:25:35]>> Okay. So, the tarp. So, tarp the body up, put the body in the trunk, throw the items away, the cleaning supplies and whatnot. What happens then?

[00:25:48]>> Where you go from there?

[00:25:50]>> After he puts it in the car, >> then he drives. I don't know where how long or where to, but I know I know like I'm trying to give you I just know at some point he drives to the apartment and he jumps out, opens up the the garbage thing and that's when he gets the body and I go back outside cuz he's like, "Babe," and I help him do it all over again.

[00:26:14]>> So, you help put the body in the trash or whatever it was. Yes.

[00:26:17]>> Okay.

[00:26:19]Well, so I see here that uh it looks like after the cleanup and putting the body in the trunk, you guys went to Sha back to Sha's.

[00:26:36]You guys go to Sha's?

[00:26:37]>> I remember that.

[00:26:38]>> Well, you did cuz I can see it right here. So, you bought the supplies. Uh you you were at Lowe's. Now, mind you, let me just tell you this is all on video. I have receipts for all this, okay? So, the items that were purchased and the body was wrapped up in these items. Um, and then at 6, that was at 5:20 that you guys left Lowe's, went back to the house right here, and then by 6:36 p.m., you are back at Sean Cyrus Tavern.

[00:27:18]Okay. So, at that point, the body's in the trunk because later on, it's not till 12:17 a.m.

[00:27:37]that the car goes to where the body was disposed of in the dumpster.

[00:27:41]>> I don't remember. I'm telling you, I don't remember.

[00:27:43]>> You don't remember? But I'm I'm telling you, okay, that's what happened. So, You're distraught that you just saw this killing.

[00:27:54]Okay.

[00:27:55]>> Well, we walked in on it, but yeah.

[00:27:57]>> Okay. You saw this. You're shocked at this whole thing, right? Things are fuzzy.

[00:28:05]>> But you go to Sea's.

[00:28:06]>> I don't remember. Get a little dinner though. That's the thing. I don't like I really don't remember. All I remember is like the big [ __ ] that happened cuz the other stuff.

[00:28:15]>> Well, that that's why we're trying to figure this out together. Okay. So, I'm just telling you and and I'm filling in these spots and maybe it'll click something in your head. Okay. So, from there, you guys go to the apartment complex and put the body in the dumpster. Okay.

[00:28:35]And from the dumpster, you guys go to the Waffle House to get a little snack, right?

[00:28:46]>> Remember that? I got video of you doing that, too. Okay.

[00:28:49]>> I don't remember that.

[00:28:50]>> The detective has a complete timeline of that night. GPS records from Jonathan's ankle monitor, security footage, receipts, and that timeline shows something that no version of Caitlyn's story can explain. They dumped Nicole's body in a dumpster at 12:17 a.m. And then they drove to Waffle House and sat down and ordered food. This is not two people in shock. This is not two teenagers who panicked and didn't know what to do. This is two people who did what they came to do and moved on with their night. And every time the detective reveals another piece of this timeline, another receipt, another camera, another GPS ping, Caitlyn says the same thing. I don't remember, but the cameras remember and they don't forget.

[00:29:38]>> Then from 12:29 to 10:4 a.m.

[00:29:44]you go back to the house, you're there for a little while and I think at then you later on you guys that next afternoon at 12:49 p.m. you leave and go to McDonald's.

[00:30:02]Then you go to Walmart, purchase some supplies, and then you go to uh let's see, Meyer, and then back to the house.

[00:30:12]back to Walmart on Glendale, Home Depot and Airport Highway.

[00:30:17]>> We live the same day.

[00:30:19]>> Then you guys uh took her debit card and went to the bank, several banks, as a matter of fact, >> and used her.

[00:30:28]>> That's also another thing. He said that that he was happy that he got his her money out or whatever because she was complaining about how he wasn't even paying for the house and stuff and that she don't even have the money for him to be even living with her. I know that's something that he commented about before, but I don't know why he kept pulling money. I know at some point I know that he was potting off her stuff or whatever so that he could get money to go into Mexico.

[00:30:52]>> Yeah, we have all that, too. We have all that stuff. We found all that. So, we have it. Um, and again, I'm going to I'm going to You might hear me say this multiple times, but this is all on video.

[00:31:05]>> I know.

[00:31:05]>> Or there's receipts to show where you're at. And everybody handles traumatic situations a little differently.

[00:31:14]>> I don't know. I felt like I was living a lifetime of me. Like I literally I felt like I was living movie. I literally felt like this was just how I saw the situation with me and Jonathan was I really just thought that being with somebody I love like I really thought that you know Harley Quinn or like you know Bonnie and Clyde type stuff or whatever. Like I really thought that like you know like I was just his like partner in crime but I wasn't doing the crime like I was just there for him like cuz I loved him or whatever and I didn't want to leave him but I was also scared to leave him even though I loved him.

[00:31:45]Like it's crazy cuz I really did throughout being with him or whatever try to leave or whatever but that's when he started being more stricter with my phones and stuff. That's the reason why I didn't even try to attempt to leave or whatever. He did hand me the gun instead of hand me the knife and was like, "Kill me right here, right now." But I didn't do that cuz I'm not capable of that. I know I'm not capable of that. I don't want to hurt somebody like that.

[00:32:09]You still love him?

[00:32:12]Yeah. You're still going to do what he says? Like right here, right now?

[00:32:19]I want to take the phone so badly.

[00:32:26]He's the only person I have.

[00:32:30]Really? What about Mr. Sorer up in Monroe, Michigan?

[00:32:34]>> Who?

[00:32:36]>> Mr. Sorter.

[00:32:40]I forget what is there's two of Kevin maybe.

[00:32:43]>> I can't remember.

[00:32:45]>> But according to that, you love him.

[00:32:49]>> Who?

[00:32:50]>> Sorder. You've been talking with him from the jail.

[00:32:53]We got your own you're on audio telling him how much you love him and you want to do this that and the other to him.

[00:33:00]Very graphic.

[00:33:02]>> Oh, are you talking about um I don't know who you're talking about.

[00:33:10]I I've talked to one person being in this jail or whatever. I talked to him when I very first came here or whatever.

[00:33:15]Someone hooked me up with him. But it's still not I told him that I still had feelings for Jonathan though. It's the same thing.

[00:33:23]I told him we're never going to be the same after this. I tell my parents that too all the time.

[00:33:27]>> Does Jonathan know about him?

[00:33:29]>> No. Jonathan knows that my family he has support or whatever, but he don't know about anybody else.

[00:33:36]>> What would he What would he say if we if he heard those calls? What would he What would he say about that situation?

[00:33:43]>> No, I have a history of cheating.

[00:33:48]>> It doesn't mean that I don't love him, though. He knows that. I've told him that being high or whatever. I told him I was like I remember this when I was very high then one night I was like I told him I was like I was cheating on you when we very first met or whatever.

[00:34:00]But I told him I was like it didn't matter though because I love you.

[00:34:06]He knows. It's just he if he finds out he's going to be pissed cuz I don't know. I just know he would be pissed if he found out.

[00:34:18]>> I love him though. I really do love him.

[00:34:20]Like I really do want to take the fall for him.

[00:34:23]>> Well, hold on second. We don't want anybody take the fall for anybody, okay?

[00:34:28]We just want the truth. And the truth is that uh >> someone died. I know somebody that should >> Let me finish. in this other in these other interviews, okay, that you had with the FBI agents down in El Paso and all this stuff that you were very specific about what happened, >> right? He was he was nowhere around.

[00:34:51]You're sitting in the room with two FBI agents in a locked facility.

[00:34:56]So, he he he poses no threat to you. So, you go into a story with explicit detail. Oh, stop. Stop. how you gave him a specific period of time to get rid of his mother, to kill his mother, cuz she was in the way keeping you guys from being together. And then he did not complete that act. So, you gave him another hour. You went and staged this brick or block, whatever it was, and you waited for her in the kitchen to be bent over in the refrigerator. You took the rock, bashed her head in, and strangled her. Okay?

[00:35:33]And based upon your very explicit words, >> the prosecutor just made the single most important point of this entire interrogation. When Caitlyn confessed to the FBI, she was not with Jonathan. She was in a locked federal facility in El Paso, Texas. He was not in the room. He could not threaten her. He could not influence her. She was alone. And she told two federal agents everything voluntarily in detail so specific that when investigators went to the house, the physical evidence matched her description exactly. The rock, the position of the body, the blood, everything. That is not a statement made out of fear. That is not manipulation.

[00:36:17]That is a person who wanted someone to know what had happened. And now that same person is sitting across from a prosecutor saying, "I don't remember."

[00:36:25]The distance between those two statements is the entire case against Caitlyn Coons. We got a search warrant, went to the house, and the physical evidence in that place is exactly like you said. Exactly like you said.

[00:36:42]So, someone who's all traumatic and not grasping the full situation >> is not going to be that explicitly detailed. See, and here's the other thing. Okay. You you you're trying to tell us that you're the victim in all this.

[00:37:00]>> NO, I'M NOT TRYING TO tell you the victim. I'm trying to tell you how she died. I'm trying to tell you what. And yet, we're not listening.

[00:37:07]>> Okay. We know how she died. No, I'm trying to give her the full justice she needs. I understand. I'm guilty. I understand. I'm guilty for her running.

[00:37:15]I'm guilty for taking the fall for him.

[00:37:17]I'm guilty for DUMPING THE HER BODY. I UNDERSTAND IT. BUT I'M REALLY trying to tell you about what it is.

[00:37:23]Like it doesn't matter at the end of the day cuz you're not going to listen. You really think I'm the one that did it. I understand him from my statements. But me and him talked about it back and forth. I talked to him I was going to I promised him I was going to take the blame because I loved him. Okay.

[00:37:38]>> I totally >> And here's the other thing. So you you go you guys go to Tempe, Arizona. Okay.

[00:37:49]A a man standing on the street corner is shot.

[00:37:54]Okay.

[00:37:55]Who shot that man?

[00:37:57]>> I don't know. I don't know what that happened.

[00:37:59]>> Okay. Well, that's funny because that's another thing that you said that you did. You did a drive by shooting and you shot this guy standing on the street corner. You think he's dead.

[00:38:10]That's what you told someone. Okay. So, you're very explicit about that. And then you were taking your socks and soaking them in lighter fluid, setting them on fire, and throwing them out the window trying to start a fire. Okay. So, what gets me is in the past you've been so specific about all these things that have happened. Now all of a sudden it switches from I did this, I did this, I did this to Jonathan did this, this, and this. Okay, >> I did dump the body. I told you guys that, but I didn't kill her.

[00:38:44]>> Then why >> why would you say Okay, let me ask you this. Why? Who's Who's Michael Smith?

[00:38:54]>> You're a tractor. Okay, so he lives in the Canton area, right?

[00:39:00]>> Okay.

[00:39:02]Did you exchange some text messages with with Michael Smith telling him that you guys had killed Jonathan's mother?

[00:39:17]>> You got to remember something.

[00:39:18]>> Yes, I did say that.

[00:39:20]>> You did? Okay. And what were you trying to do? What were you trying to accomplish by telling >> I was trying to get help with some way?

[00:39:28]I was trying to let them know, but I love Michael.

[00:39:34]>> So, Michael, you reached out to him because, in your words, in these messages, you were wanting to join a drug cartel, right?

[00:39:44]>> That's what Jonathan want, but I put that in the message. And then so you you put on the message, you're going back and forth with this guy and he explains to you that hey, you got if you're going to join a drug cartel because apparently he had the connections to put you in contact with the drug cartel. So he explained to you that you have to be able to kill people and he asked you, "Have you ever killed anyone?" You said yes. And he said, "Who?" And he said, "Who?" and you said, "Oh, me and my boyfriend killed this his mom and so on so forth." And he asks you specifics about names and so on and so forth. I can show you the conversation if you'd like.

[00:40:24]>> No, I don't even >> And let me tell you something about you know how this came into our possession.

[00:40:30]You want me to tell you uh Mr. Smith is an informant?

[00:40:37]>> I don't know. He told me >> for the marshals. So the whole time this is going on and he's having this conversation with you, he's actually giving that information directly to law enforcement.

[00:40:51]So and and I'm looking at this message.

[00:40:53]It didn't sound like some somebody who's an innocent victim that was thrust in the middle of the situation.

[00:41:13]Yes, you can.

[00:41:17]I I'm wondering if we've reached the point that Judge Cook was concerned about as far as competency to be able to conver. I mean, we're pretty much >> Well, >> I'm not sure. Kaitlyn, what's making you so upset right now? You're feeling like you're not we're not listening to you.

[00:41:37]>> It's not that I'm not trying to say I'm a fake none of that. It's just I'm just trying to tell how I seen it as that's how I see it as I know I'm not right in the head, but that's how I see the situation. I know he's the one that did it, but I don't remember anything. I I know the places you said. I know the people you're talking about, but I don't remember doing I don't remember being in an actual position like being there.

[00:42:02]Like I'm not conscious. I don't remember being conscious during this. I know of it. I know what you're talking about, but I don't remember it. Like I don't remember being in that spot. And it hurts me because it's like I'm a survivor. I'm not no victim. I don't like that word. I really It took a lot for me to go through what I did with Jonathan. I know that I say I love you to a lot of people, but I can do that all day long. But my heart goes out to him. I really love him.

[00:42:27]And I think what really happened at the end of the day is that I just came into the mindset that it was okay that she died, that it's okay to kill people and stuff like that when it really is.

[00:42:39]>> Okay, >> I'm listening. I want to hear you out. I feel like you're really frustrated cuz we're not listening to you. I'm trying to hear your what you're saying. Okay, we both are.

[00:42:48]>> I want to go. I don't want to be Kaitlin, the last thing we want to do is pin something on someone who didn't do do whatever the crime is.

[00:43:09]Okay, that's that's so far from what we want to do.

[00:43:15]Okay. But we we are here to find the truth about situations regardless irregardless of what that truth may be. At the end of the day, that's all we want. Okay?

[00:43:30]And this is your opportunity to say, you know, hey, I did this, that, and the other that this is, you know, a moment of clarity for everyone where you just, you know, everything that you did that was wrong, you lay it out on the table because that shows that you have accepted responsibility for your own actions. Okay. And based upon that, the prosecutor here takes that information and makes recommendations and says, you know, this person, they messed up, they did these things, but they accepted responsibility for it, and because of that, we're going to offer such and such kind of deal. Okay? And that deal may be advantageous to you.

[00:44:28]Okay. But if you waste her time and all our time with things that aren't true or aren't totally accurate, then the likelihood of her offering some type of good deal is becomes less. Okay? And then we're forced into a situation where we go to court and we paint this picture of what happened. Okay? And it's not going to make you look good. Okay? The most important thing I just want to the proper means everything you say I mean they've got like I said they they have a worst case scenario when they already have a confession thing. What's more important is just telling them the truth about Michael. telling the truth about how you got from point A to point B, what happened even if you're even, you know, so all these things are important because the truthfulness of it all comes into play. Like I said that there's you talked about the complicity issue, right? So like I said, you know, you're in for a long haul here. Okay. What's important now is truthfulness about all things that you can remember. And if you can't specifically remember a one thing or another, say, I can't remember that, but I do remember this. You know what I'm saying? I just We're trying to I want you made the decision like this and you really wanted to tell your story, okay? To be heard, but that means there's no what I don't want you to do is think to minimize anything at all is not going to help you at this point. Okay?

[00:46:14]everything else is is where it is. Okay?

[00:46:19]That's what the profer is all about. If you're honest, open, straightforward, we're going to be in a much better spot.

[00:46:26]Okay?

[00:46:29]>> So, I think the last part of your was who Michael is.

[00:46:34]>> Michael Michael was um my trafficker, but I didn't know that was him or whatever. I just knew he had a different pro, it was a different name or whatever that he was under. And mind you, like I do have a history of cheating. So I have a whole bunch of guys on my Facebook or whatever. And the guy was offering me a safe place to go. He's like, "Don't tell nobody about it." But I told told Jonathan about it.

[00:46:58]And then that's when he asked me to ask the guy about the mafia and stuff like that or whatever. So then I asked the person about the mafia.

[00:47:06]And then I basically said that I killed two. I killed killed one person which was Nicole.

[00:47:15]And after I said that, so that's when he was asking me how far away I was from the place from a store or whatever. And Jonathan told me to say that I was like two five minutes away from where I was actually at or whatever so that just in case that he wouldn't get caught or whatever. said somewhere that was five minutes away from where we were. And then after that happened, that's when the police picked us up or whatever. And then that's when I was in the off in the office and I had my I got my phone or whatever and I saw that whatchamacallit that Michael was like, "This is Michael actually." And he was like, "I've been prison.

[00:48:00]I'll come visit you. And there's a whole bunch of hateful stuff.

[00:48:05]And he told me to send him a picture of me to send a picture with me crying.

[00:48:17]Um, so this kind of ties in with that, but um, when Nicole was when you guys got rid of her body, what was she wearing?

[00:48:37]I don't I don't know how to forget. I think she I think she was wearing um pants or I don't know >> what kind of shirt. Do you recall what her shirt looked like?

[00:48:55]>> I don't want to say the wrong thing.

[00:48:57]>> I don't know. And and >> you don't remember? You don't remember?

[00:49:00]>> You don't remember? Just say so.

[00:49:02]>> You can't remember.

[00:49:04]>> Did you take a picture of her body?

[00:49:08]>> No, not that I know of. Did I?

[00:49:12]>> I don't know. What's this right here?

[00:49:18]You sent that picture to Michael.

[00:49:21]Is that a picture of Nicole body?

[00:49:23]because it looks like there's she suffered some type of trauma there.

[00:49:27]That's what it looks like.

[00:49:29]>> No, that's not from me. That's from him.

[00:49:32]This is the stuff that I said.

[00:49:33]>> Okay.

[00:49:34]>> What did he send you? What's that? A picture of >> I don't know. I don't know what that was. I think he cuz he was saying that he you kill people or whatever from the cartel and the mafia and then that's when he sent somebody that was dead. But it was of like a darkkinned girl or whatever. That wasn't Nicole.

[00:49:52]>> Okay.

[00:49:55]This is so bad.

[00:49:56]>> It is bad, but we're trying to do what we can here, right? To get the right result.

[00:50:03]>> I mean, did you feel safe with Jonathan?

[00:50:06]>> No.

[00:50:08]>> But I love him. I can't. And in my head, I thought everything was okay. Like, I really thought it was okay when it really wasn't.

[00:50:17]I mean, here I mean, I'll just show you a picture that you sent.

[00:50:27]You sent that picture, right? And it's kind of >> It looks like I'm okay in the in the situation, >> right? I mean, you you're obviously the one taking that picture, goofing around, and he's driving. I would I would think at some point you You if you did that and you needed help, you would have said, "Hey, call the police." You know, and >> you got two phones at this point. Did you ever think to call the police when he's murdering her, calling out, walking outside, telling somebody? It just Here's the problem. It looks like what you're saying is increasing.

[00:51:03]>> I threatened him to do it multiple times. I told him I was going to call it in and turn him in or whatever, but I never did it. I don't know why I never did it. I don't know why. I thought it was okay. I really did. I thought that it was okay. I don't I don't know why I thought it was okay, but I thought it was okay.

[00:51:19]I thought I thought that like that that's normal. I don't know why. I thought that was like that's how someone you I don't know something you really I guess like if they and he did say that he did say that the reason why she he killed her was because she didn't want me in the house or whatever. And I was like, well, you know, in my head, I guess I wrapped my head around the idea, well, he must really love me if he did that.

[00:51:45]>> She says this quietly, almost as an afterthought, and it is the most revealing sentence in this entire interrogation because it tells you exactly how Caitlyn processed what happened that night. Not as a tragedy, not as something that went wrong, as proof of love. A 33-year-old man killed his own mother, and the 17-year-old girl who gave him the deadline to do it interpreted that as evidence that he loved her. This is the logic that underlies everything. The 5-hour ultimatum, the couch, the Lowe's trip, the Waffle House. She was not a passive bystander swept up in events beyond her control. She was a participant who measured the depth of a relationship by its most extreme act. and she found the answer she was looking for.

[00:52:32]>> I don't know.

[00:52:33]>> All right. So, that's my line is the why. You're saying he killed her because she didn't want you in the house.

[00:52:39]>> Yes.

[00:52:40]>> All right. And when do you think he made that plan?

[00:52:43]>> I don't know. Everybody keeps telling me that he had it already made up, but I don't ever remember him even talking about killing her or none of that.

[00:52:53]>> Never had a conversation about it aside from the five hours to do something about your mom?

[00:52:58]>> No.

[00:53:01]And the rock. You don't know where the rock came from?

[00:53:06]>> No, I don't remember where the rock came from.

[00:53:10]Remember telling the FBI agents that you brought it in from outside?

[00:53:15]I know I said that, but that's not what happened.

[00:53:19]>> You're okay. So it it it just seems that okay this is this this so basically what happened was I walked into the house or whatever while she was asleep and I went into the room And I went in there, passed out, woke up the next morning, it's the same thing. The door was blocked off or whatever. And I told him, I was like, I don't want to be here. I don't want her not knowing that I'm here or whatever.

[00:54:01]And mind you, previous to it happening or whatever, he was talking about that.

[00:54:05]He was talking about killing his mom or whatever because she wouldn't want us to be together. But I kept dismissing. I kept dismissing it. And that's what I told him at 5 hours. He came back with a rock or whatever from outside came through the window or whatever and he was like, "I'm going to go do it." And I was like, "No, no, no." And I went back to sleep. Like I just I didn't try to stop him. I was just like, "Okay, okay."

[00:54:28]And I fell asleep. And then that's when he started yelling my name. And that's when I walked in, but I didn't I I I helped move the body. I I did do that, but I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her. No.

[00:54:42]>> All right. So now you see him coming through the window with the rock. Okay.

[00:54:47]Um, can you describe its general shape and size?

[00:54:50]>> It's like this.

[00:54:52]>> Yeah.

[00:54:52]>> He was like practicing or whatever and I'm like in the bedroom. He was doing that. Is that right?

[00:55:03]>> Where would you sleep in the bedroom?

[00:55:04]>> This is his bed on the floor. It's like a mat on the floor. I was sleeping right here. He sleeps right here. And the door's right here. This is his closet.

[00:55:13]And then this is the window stuff.

[00:55:17]>> All right. So, you're saying now that you went back to he came back in and said, "I'm going to go do it." He's got the rock. He's practicing. You fall asleep and you kind You're going to just block this out. Is that what you're saying?

[00:55:30]Um, about how long until he starts calling your name then?

[00:55:33]>> 30 to It really was 30 minutes to an hour.

[00:55:36]>> Did you hear anything in that time?

[00:55:40]I want to say I heard like I think I heard a struggling. I really did think I heard like a like a like I don't know what type of I don't know how it sounds but like I I hear like I have PTSD where I hear it where it's like maybe her breathing. Okay. Did but I think when we first started talking I thought you heard loud bangs. Do you did you hear that or not?

[00:56:03]>> No.

[00:56:04]>> Okay. Did you hear her scream?

[00:56:06]>> No, I did not hear her scream.

[00:56:09]No, I did hear a scream.

[00:56:11]>> Okay.

[00:56:14]>> And what you're saying now is that you waited till it was over essentially.

[00:56:36]Have you had any conversations with Jonathan since that? Since uh you both were in jail?

[00:56:46]Yeah, he'd been sending me letters or whatever whenever I was in juvenile and then he was giving me letters or whatever to I don't want to dispose how he did it, but he was sending me letters and I got them. He kept telling me just to keep admitting and keep taking off of him being the mastermind and me being the mastermind that I'm only going to get 10 years and it's going to be okay and that he loves me and misses me. He can't wait to choke me and teach me right and all this other stuff and and that he said he would kill a whole town for me and it's just terrible. It's terrible. I talk to him on the phone. He tells me the same thing.

[00:57:34]He tells me don't talk to the prosecutor. Don't tell him anything.

[00:57:38]>> Has he reached you on the phone in the jail?

[00:57:42]Do you know what diesels were?

[00:57:46]>> No.

[00:57:49]>> Did you? So, am I correct? And that he's basically telling you you take the heat for this because you'll be out in in no time. You guys have a a story you were supposed to stick to. I was just supposed to take it all.

[00:58:12]>> But the with the rack and the strangling, everything you told like your first statements to people, whether it be on Facebook, text messaging, or in the interview, um you gave a very specific statement. I want to know how you came up with that um statement if you're telling me it was what you >> Well, I walked in on him straight on your side. Put that together. Then I knew about the rock. I put that together. Then the blood and I was up close and I saw that for myself.

[00:58:35]>> The what?

[00:58:36]>> The the bloody blush of stuff. all over the for the brain battery.

[00:58:42]Okay. All right.

[00:58:47]You guys flex because I mean it it just what you're saying is completely opposite to what we had in regards to cold hard facts. So that's why I'm trying to to you know reconcile it because um what you're saying right now is not what we would have to prove the case.

[00:59:03]Okay. So, I don't know if I could talk to Jonathan and nobody like it just be like recorded or something or something and I get him in a room and we talk about it or something. I can bring it up or something. He would say it. That's the thing. He would admit to it, but you guys I don't think that's even there's no possible that's not never ever going to happen. That's never you're never going to get his admission. He's going to blame it on me and I'm okay with that. Sadly, I'm okay with spending my life in prison.

[00:59:35]But did he tell you? You had some time to come up with a story, right? Or a plan because you all fled and you were gone for some time.

[00:59:41]>> No, we never talked about it. That's We never No, I just said, "I promise you I'll take the phone for you. I promise I love you."

[00:59:47]>> Kayla, you spent how many days with this man?

[00:59:50]>> I promise you. I literally told him I was going to take the fall because I love him.

[00:59:54]>> Never had a be a conversation. Okay. So, that's the problem. your testimony, the statement is real helpful to me, but only if it's true. And when I there's just things that make no god-given sense. That's where I'm kind of like this is over. I mean, you know, you know what I'm trying to tell you.

[01:00:13]>> Well, remember when I said to you, did you and Jonathan ever like as you're driving along come up with this idea that >> you know, that's the thing we know.

[01:00:21]>> And you kept saying to me, no, I just told him from the very beginning.

[01:00:26]So you just you you so explain that. I'd like to know that too. Explain what was in your mind as you were telling him I'm going to take the fall.

[01:00:37]like whenever I was thinking I was going to I just think about how it happened is that's why I think that my mind wouldn't let me stay awake because I really did think about how it happened and stuff and I I did piece that like I was trying to tell but my other attorney like when you see somebody stabbed three times and you see a knife on the ground by the body and they're stabbed three times and you're not the killer. You put two together. The person was stabbed three times with that knife. That's how I see it as. That's how I literally put two and two together. I just I knew the he hit her in the head with the the rock or whatever. There was literally stuff on her head whenever I walked in. Blood and stuff on the ground. And then he had her hands his hands on her neck. So I knew that he was strangling her. And then on top of that, I knew exactly what he bought and stuff cuz I was there. And I just put it together and I just wanted to make it sound like I did it, too.

[01:01:27]>> So let me ask you this. What do you think you were getting out of it from Jonathan by said telling him just on your own saying it to your saying to him directly I'm going to take the fall?

[01:01:37]What was in your mind about what were you going to get from Jonathan for that for that statement?

[01:01:43]>> Like an eternal promise of my love. Like I don't I've never I've never done anything like that for anybody. I always lie to people and stuff like that. But I don't know. It's like I don't know how to explain it. Like I I promised him because I don't know how to explain it.

[01:02:00]I really don't know how to explain it. I promised him that I would take the fall because >> I don't know. It's hard for me to make sense. But I said it in the moment though. I was like, I'm going to take the fall for you. I'm going to take the fall for you because I knew that they they were looking for us cuz mind you, I'm the one sending out the stuff. So I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Like I kind of set myself up in a way like I wanted I wanted to be like painted as this monster.

[01:02:31]Like I just I don't like myself. I think that's the thing too. I wanted to be painted as a monster cuz that's how I feel. I don't know.

[01:02:39]>> It's okay.

[01:02:40]>> This is the most honest thing Caitlyn says in this entire room and it matters more than any of her denials because she is telling the prosecutor something that no manipulation theory can account for.

[01:02:51]She wanted this. Not the killing, but the confession. She wanted the world to know. She told the nurse. She told the FBI. She told the informant. Not because Jonathan made her, but because she wanted to be seen as someone capable of something irreversible. She says, "That's how I feel, like a monster." And what is so difficult about this case is that underneath all of it, there is a teenager with a history of trauma and self harm who was in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age. But the prosecutor's job is not to explain Caitlyn. His job is to account for Nicole. And Nicole Jones is still missing. Her body has never been found.

[01:03:32]And the only person who knows exactly where she is is sitting in this room saying, "I don't remember."

[01:03:39]>> I can understand that.

[01:03:41]I'm trying to make sense of it.

[01:03:49]>> You know, one of the things that I like to do an investigation is look into the past history of a person to kind of see maybe why they are the way they are as a person. Okay. Helps give me some insight.

[01:04:10]So there is basically a timeline of your life. Okay. And some of the horrific things that you have been subjected to. Okay?

[01:04:30]No one should have to endure these things that you've endured.

[01:04:37]But we also know that when people are subjected to things like that that it affects them mentally and causes them to become a certain type of person.

[01:04:52]So looking at yours, I mean anyone that looks at that would say, "Wow, I can understand why they would hurt somebody else."

[01:05:07]>> But that's the thing. I don't want to hurt nobody else. I don't ever want that. Like, and the thing is is Jonathan's the only person to stick around. He's the only one that's messed up, just like how I messed up. And when I mean that, I mean like I have a history of saying I'm going to kill myself if someone tries to leave me. I have a history of being aggressive and stuff like that, but his is more [ __ ] up than mine. That's the thing. But I love him.

[01:05:28]>> So here, but here's the thing. So if we look at his history, he graduates high school. He goes in the military.

[01:05:39]He serves his country.

[01:05:43]Comes home. No criminal record to speak of. Zero. Okay.

[01:05:50]fairly normal uh formative years, you know, growing up until he gets with you and then these things start to happen. So, it's just hard for me to believe that someone like you who've been through so much and we can understand why it make might make you prone to doing certain things.

[01:06:19]how you could be a little bit more um likely to commit a crime of violence than Jonathan.

[01:06:27]Okay. It seems to me that if I were to look at both of your life histories and and say and someone were to say to me, "Which one do you think is a sociopath or narcissist or whatever?" It's not going to be Jonathan. Okay?

[01:06:46]And and I'm sorry that these things have made you this way.

[01:06:52]>> I'm not.

[01:06:54]>> But but it's >> we we can't allow you to keep manipulating. Okay. And that's been he's the one that did it. You're not listening. I'm trying to tell you for her sake. I DID PROVIDE I'M NOT THE ONE THAT KILLED HER and only Nicole would know that.

[01:07:16]If my body was phone, you would see his fingerprints on her and everything. But no, you know, they wouldn't talk to me because they knew.

[01:07:37]Why am I still here? Why am I still [ __ ] my life, RIGHT?

[01:08:07]Just just take a moment. Take a deep breath. Take a couple deep breaths.

[01:08:12]>> I wonder if we should just call it now.

[01:08:15]Mental health assessment to be done on that.

[01:08:19]>> You want to be finished speaking for today, Caitlyn?

[01:08:22]>> I want you guys to understand. I want you to see. I don't know what I need to do. I just want you to see.

[01:08:31]I was scared of him, too. Please don't let him get away with.

[01:08:41]>> So, let me ask you this. When you said, "I'm I'm a scared of him, too." What What causes you to say that?

[01:08:48]>> Because I seen him do it. I seen him kill her and nobody's listening.

[01:08:55]>> We're We're listening. We're listening.

[01:08:57]>> NO, CUZ I'M JUST I'M painted that way. I have a bad history. So, leave me there.

[01:09:06]Good people can be able. I tell people all the time, this guy could be a good guy, but be raping somebody. But don't be that guy.

[01:09:31]I'm sorry. I'm really trying to tell you guys that you are not listening. You are, but you're not cuz you obviously still dick as me.

[01:09:40]>> No, I mean what I think is that you you and Jonathan planned to kill her and you did just that and you worked together strangling her and hitting her head with a rock. I think both of you were hands on. You were together every part of it.

[01:09:52]the pre-planning, the killing, the disposing, and the fleeing every step of the way. That's what all of the evidence suggests, Kay.

[01:10:00]>> So, Mr. I know we've talked about this >> being honest.

[01:10:06]>> Well, being honest assessment before the fact or even whether or not when two people go together to do something even if you're not the one who did that part of law, you're you're under the old you're still going to be held for for what he did. Okay. So, but I know the one thing I do know is that I can fully understand how your history gets you to a point where you're involved with someone like him. And I will push back on the detective a bit because I when it comes to a man going out and finding a 16-year-old that if you have a perfect record on one area, that's something you don't that doesn't shine right away. And I think he will agree with me. Um, and there's something going on with a 30-ome year old man who's done all the things he's supposedly done, who still lives with his mom and is bringing a minor into his mother's house. So, there's those kind of issues.

[01:11:10]>> So, what?

[01:11:10]>> No, but listen, I was literally friends with her. I don't know if you guys know, but I was talking to her from Facebook, but I was friends with her.

[01:11:17]>> Okay.

[01:11:18]>> I didn't want her to die. I didn't.

[01:11:24]>> Okay.

[01:11:26]Okay. If you didn't water, why did you have the water today?

[01:11:29]>> I don't know. I told him I knew I was going to leave in 5 hours and he had to do something about his mom because I didn't want to be there without her knowing me about it.

[01:11:41]because you you had said that in the interview with the FBI that you killed her because she was in the way of your guys' relationship.

[01:12:00]>> It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt.

[01:12:01]It's going to hurt. I wanted to be real.

[01:12:06]I gave him five hours to do it, but I didn't really think he was going to do it. All right. You gave him five hours to kill her, but you didn't think he'd actually do it.

[01:12:17]>> No. Okay.

[01:12:22]And then did you feel kind of responsible after he did do it? Because I feel like it was all my fault. I still feel like it's all my fault.

[01:12:34]I still hear her. I wrote her a whole letter.

[01:12:43]It's just too much. It's too much.

[01:12:47]>> Do you remember sending me a letter about the situation?

[01:12:51]>> Yeah, >> I just said you wouldn't. You know, I didn't do it.

[01:13:11]I gotta just say that it seems that you remember a lot when it's convenient for you. Okay. When it helps you, but when it's not convenient for you, then things become a little fuzzy.

[01:13:29]>> No, I know everything. But I told him it's going to hurt. It hurts to talk about every single thing. I really feel guilty for everything if I wasn't and it wasn't.

[01:13:42]It really hurts. It really hurts.

[01:13:46]I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I feel like I'm right back at El cuz it hurts. It really hurts to talk about it.

[01:14:02]I didn't know that. I really felt like it was a movie. I thought that Jonah didn't love me. I thought that we're just gonna go up and be on be be terrible together. Be worse together because we're not there.

[01:14:19]When did that change? Like when did when did when did time run off? Did you get in Mexico? I mean like at some point this wild ride of being terrible together was over, right?

[01:14:31]No, it never was over. We I like I said, I told him I was going to take the blame or whatever and he listened.

[01:14:37]>> But I mean, at some point you guys are running out of money, living out of this car with this cat and stuff in Mexico. Do you have an idea that you're going to get picked up and sent back at some point, right? I mean, >> that's the same. That's why I kept saying I kept sending all that [ __ ] on social media and that's the reason why I kept texting people the things that I was texting them because I just I just wanted it to be over with. I didn't want to really be doing all this stuff that we were doing.

[01:15:18]Is there anything else that you can think of that you think we need to know that we might not know about?

[01:15:29]>> No. He ped off her laptop in Mexico to somebody >> just to a random person in Mexico.

[01:15:35]>> Yep. He drew all all her money out of her account, which you already know.

[01:15:40]There's videos of all that. You in the car.

[01:15:45]Why were you guys in Adrian, Michigan?

[01:15:47]Where were you doing up there?

[01:15:49]>> Where?

[01:15:50]>> Adrian, Michigan. You guys went up in Michigan. Withdrew some money one time from an ATM machine.

[01:15:57]>> I don't remember why. Michigan.

[01:16:01]He said for the dispensary, this dispensary >> cuz mom was supposed to go that day for the dispensary, but she never went. So you guys got some of her money out of there and went to a dispensary and bought some marijuana and then you guys other occasions got money out at various ATMs from her account. And uh when you were in Arizona, he sold the gun at a pawn shop.

[01:16:30]>> Actually, no. At Texas in El Paso, right?

[01:16:36]>> Yeah. He said something about his mom and that's drew alert and that's when they did all that and then we were stopped near Mexico >> that Okay. So you were in air you were in Arizona temper Arizona right?

[01:16:49]>> Yeah.

[01:16:49]>> And that's where that guy was shot.

[01:16:53]Okay. And at some point he pawned her jewelry. Correct.

[01:17:00]>> Mhm. And then you were stopped by Customs Border Protection down on New Mexico border, but you guys were then released >> because they said nobody can respond to it.

[01:17:13]>> And then you made your way to El Paso where he sold the gun.

[01:17:18]>> Mhm.

[01:17:19]>> And you mentioned he told them something about his mom. What did he tell him?

[01:17:23]>> Uh I don't just in the discovery he said something about his mom being dead, right? Or something something.

[01:17:32]I don't know. Yeah, his mom said >> I didn't know that he said that whenever, but I knew whatever they told me about the discovery that he he said that.

[01:17:52]>> They actually hire people to come in and clean up.

[01:17:55]Just making light. Okay.

[01:17:58]He's good.

[01:18:03]>> No, but you you you said it. Why would he come if he knew if if he wasn't okay with this, then why did he come with me all the way? Why did I go with it? Why did we stay together? Why did we never try to get help?

[01:18:19]>> Well, trust us, we seen enough. We've been doing this a long time. We understand these are difficult personal relationships that don't easily break up >> and but you you've moved on from him, right?

[01:18:43]>> No, just me. I still want to throw I didn't think about it and I'm like nobody will ever touch me like he has. I really just want to throw my life away but I can't do jail. I haven't been able to do jail since I've been a long time. But I still think at the end of the day that I can I know that I'm not right in the head because of everything and I keep asking for help and nobody gives me hope.

[01:19:15]You know, that's, you know, there's a lot of people who are not right in the head. Very, very, very few of them are really murderable.

[01:19:22]>> I didn't murder nobody.

[01:19:24]>> Four words. That is the detective's entire response to everything Caitlyn has said about her mental health, her trauma, her history, her relationship with Jonathan. Four words. Very few of them murder. And he is right. Because the argument being made here that Caitlyn's background explains what happened is an argument about why, not about what and what is not in dispute.

[01:19:48]The GPS records place her at every location. The security footage places her at Lowe's. The FBI has her own statement. The informant has her own words. She helped carry the body. She helped dump it. She went to Waffle House. She fled to Mexico. She confessed four times and then sat in this room and said, "I didn't murder nobody." Nicole Jones was 53 years old. She was killed in her own kitchen, in her own home, by people she was trying to keep out. Her body has never been found. And as of 2026, nobody has told her family where she is.

[01:20:23]>> I'm trying.

[01:20:29]>> You're good. You're good.

[01:20:33]I didn't kill nobody still at the end of the day. They think that I might as well be the one, right? I might as well just say I did it. Throw my life away. That's why I keep thinking >> it's to us. I mean, you gave a lot of very explicit details about how this was done, and those are generally the details that someone provides after they walk in and witness a traumatic situation. Generally, people forget things. Okay. But you remembered so much that you gave explicit details when you were interviewed.

[01:21:19]I have PTSD because of it.

[01:21:25]>> So you're your recollection was very clear that >> close to it like so.

[01:21:39]>> All right. They're going to run you back. Okay.

[01:21:43]Have a good cry.

[01:21:44]>> No. I feel like my whole life is fine.

[01:21:50]Well, it's it's not it it's not. But I want to tell you something and I know Aaron will agree.

[01:21:57]You helped clear up a few things that I think Autumn and I have a guy with Aaron and I think we're um you did let's put it this way. You didn't hurt yourself.

[01:22:10]Okay. And there's one or two things that I think we can have a conversation about.

[01:22:14]>> I didn't do it. I I remember when I said to you, >> it doesn't matter who hit her in the head.

[01:22:27]>> On June 4th, 2024, Caitlyn Coons and Jonathan Jones stood before Judge Gary Cook in Lucas County Common Police Court in Ohio. Both pleaded no contest to aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse.

[01:22:41]The judge found both guilty the same day and sentenced them both the same day.

[01:22:47]Life in prison with eligibility for parole after 25 years. Caitlyn was 18 years old at sentencing. She will be eligible for parole at 43.

[01:23:00]Think about what happened. A 33year-old man brought a 17-year-old girl into his mother's house and hid her there without Nicole ever knowing. And when Nicole became inconvenient, when she stood between them and the life they wanted, Caitlyn gave him a deadline, 5 hours.

[01:23:22]Do something about your mother.

[01:23:25]And then she went back to sleep. She spent over an hour in that interrogation room telling a prosecutor and a detective that she walked in on Jonathan that she was scared, that she loved him, that she didn't remember anything.

[01:23:41]Meanwhile, she had already told a nurse, told FBI agents in explicit detail, told an informant she thought was a cartel contact, sent a photo of the body from her own phone. The prosecutor said it best. Someone who walked in on a traumatic situation does not give that level of explicit detail. They forget things. Caitlyn remembered everything.

[01:24:07]Every time it was convenient for her.

[01:24:10]Nicole Jones was 53 years old. She was killed in her own kitchen, in her own home, by people she was trying to protect herself from. Her body has never been found. As of 2026, Caitlyn Coons and Jonathan Jones remain incarcerated in the Ohio prison