Man gets life in prison for 2013 killing of woman in her home
RALEIGH, N.C. --One of three suspects charged in the 2013 beating and stabbing death of a woman in her North Carolina apartment was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, reports CBS affiliate WRAL.
Ronald Lee Anthony pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Melissa Huggins-Jones.
Huggins-Jones, 30, had recently divorced and moved from Tennessee to Raleigh with her 8-year-old daughter, Hannah Olivia Jones.
The morning of May 14, 2013, Hannah approached a construction crew near the apartment and asked for help. A worker followed the girl back into the apartment and found Huggins-Jones dead in her bed, covered in blood.
An autopsy determined she died from repeated, savage blows to her head and neck.
When a laptop stolen from the apartment beneath Huggins-Jones' turned up in Wake Forest, N.C., investigators were able to use DNA evidence to link the computer to the suspects.
Anthony, 25, was charged May 22, 2013, along with Travion Devonte Smith, 22, of Raleigh, and Sarah Rene Redden, 20, of Wake Forest.
Redden has agreed to testify against her two co-defendants.
Prosecutors said the three suspects had been breaking into cars in the area and that Redden served as a lookout at a different apartment complex. Redden's defense attorney, Rosemary Godwin, said Redden wasn't inside the apartment when Huggins-Jones was killed.
Redden allegedly told investigators that Smith and Anthony killed Huggins-Jones because she woke up and could identify them.
"Travion said the woman shouldn't have screamed," Redden told police.
Huggins-Jones' family members described her as a loving, devoted mother who put faith and family first. She was a member of First Baptist Church, sold candles to raise money for charities and encouraged others in their endeavors.
She chose the apartment complex because of the nearby schools and because she felt safe there, said family and friends who packed the hearing Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court. Several of Huggins-Jones' relatives addressed the court, including one who read a letter from Hannah.
"My mother was killed when I was 8 years old. I miss my mother" Hannah wrote. "My mother will never get to see me grow up, graduate high school and have kids."