Mom of 4
April 27th, 2008, 02:25 PM
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S TUART — — A woman confessed that she and her boyfriend killed her stepfather with a sword and tossed him in a trash bin because she objected to the way he treated her mother, police said.
Kristan Jensen called police to report her husband missing Monday, but the body of 48-year-old Gerald Lee Jensen was found in a landfill heap in West Palm Beach.
Stuart police say 19-year-old Nicole Thornhill and her boyfriend, Christopher F. Tomlinson, 24, confessed to planning to kill Thornhill's stepfather.
Thornhill and Tomlinson were booked into the Martin County jail Friday on charges of first-degree murder. They are being held without bail.
During their first court appearance Saturday, Tomlinson declined to make any comment, while Thornhill pleaded for her 5-week-old son.
"Is there a chance I'll get to see my son again?" she asked through tears.
Judge David Harper said that is a question for the state Department of Children and Families and approved a motion providing the infant with emergency shelter.
The couple recently had moved from California to the Jensens' home in the Astorwood Apartments complex off Indian Street.
Neighbors say Thornhill was pregnant when she arrived at her mother's house and her boyfriend worked at a supermarket while they stayed there. But life at home had become strained, police said.
Thornhill told investigators she "didn't like the way (her stepfather) spoke to her mother (and) blamed him for her mother's drug addiction," according to a police report.
So she and Tomlinson, 24, plotted to kill her stepfather, they told detectives.
At first they couple wanted to kill Jensen by making him overdose on prescription pills to make his death look like a suicide, according to the police report.
When that didn't work, they planned to slay him with a sword, the report said.
Around 7 a.m. Monday, when Kristan Jensen was not home, Tomlinson picked up the sword and stabbed Gerald Jensen in the throat so he wouldn't yell, he told investigators. He also stabbed him at least once in the chest, he said.
Then the couple wrapped his body and disposed of it inside a trash bin at the Astorwood complex, police said.
When Kristan couldn't contact her husband, Tomlinson and Thornhill told her they had seen him arguing with someone on the phone late Sunday night, according to the report.
They also said the apartment had been ransacked, with some jewelry missing, and that they had to clean up the mess. But when Kristan got home, the only room she noticed that had been cleaned was the bathroom, she told police.
An employee at the Solid Waste Authority landfill at Jog Road and 45th Street found the body Thursday.
Authorities identified the body based on the description in the missing person report.
Once the family was called in for questioning, Thornhill and Tomlinson confessed to the killing, police said.
Kristan "was quite distraught" when she learned what happened, Stuart police spokesman Marty Jacobson said Saturday.
Jacobson said the couple had a history of domestic issues, but wasn't able to provide specific cases or descriptions.
According to state criminal records, Gerald Jensen had been arrested four times for charges of domestic battery since 1995 and once on a charge of aggravated domestic battery.
Kristan Jensen was arrested on an aggravated domestic battery charge in 2003, records show. She could not be reached for comment.
Link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/tcoast/epaper/2008/04/26/m1c_tcmurder_0427.html
http://i30.tinypic.com/jiho61.jpg
S TUART — — A woman confessed that she and her boyfriend killed her stepfather with a sword and tossed him in a trash bin because she objected to the way he treated her mother, police said.
Kristan Jensen called police to report her husband missing Monday, but the body of 48-year-old Gerald Lee Jensen was found in a landfill heap in West Palm Beach.
Stuart police say 19-year-old Nicole Thornhill and her boyfriend, Christopher F. Tomlinson, 24, confessed to planning to kill Thornhill's stepfather.
Thornhill and Tomlinson were booked into the Martin County jail Friday on charges of first-degree murder. They are being held without bail.
During their first court appearance Saturday, Tomlinson declined to make any comment, while Thornhill pleaded for her 5-week-old son.
"Is there a chance I'll get to see my son again?" she asked through tears.
Judge David Harper said that is a question for the state Department of Children and Families and approved a motion providing the infant with emergency shelter.
The couple recently had moved from California to the Jensens' home in the Astorwood Apartments complex off Indian Street.
Neighbors say Thornhill was pregnant when she arrived at her mother's house and her boyfriend worked at a supermarket while they stayed there. But life at home had become strained, police said.
Thornhill told investigators she "didn't like the way (her stepfather) spoke to her mother (and) blamed him for her mother's drug addiction," according to a police report.
So she and Tomlinson, 24, plotted to kill her stepfather, they told detectives.
At first they couple wanted to kill Jensen by making him overdose on prescription pills to make his death look like a suicide, according to the police report.
When that didn't work, they planned to slay him with a sword, the report said.
Around 7 a.m. Monday, when Kristan Jensen was not home, Tomlinson picked up the sword and stabbed Gerald Jensen in the throat so he wouldn't yell, he told investigators. He also stabbed him at least once in the chest, he said.
Then the couple wrapped his body and disposed of it inside a trash bin at the Astorwood complex, police said.
When Kristan couldn't contact her husband, Tomlinson and Thornhill told her they had seen him arguing with someone on the phone late Sunday night, according to the report.
They also said the apartment had been ransacked, with some jewelry missing, and that they had to clean up the mess. But when Kristan got home, the only room she noticed that had been cleaned was the bathroom, she told police.
An employee at the Solid Waste Authority landfill at Jog Road and 45th Street found the body Thursday.
Authorities identified the body based on the description in the missing person report.
Once the family was called in for questioning, Thornhill and Tomlinson confessed to the killing, police said.
Kristan "was quite distraught" when she learned what happened, Stuart police spokesman Marty Jacobson said Saturday.
Jacobson said the couple had a history of domestic issues, but wasn't able to provide specific cases or descriptions.
According to state criminal records, Gerald Jensen had been arrested four times for charges of domestic battery since 1995 and once on a charge of aggravated domestic battery.
Kristan Jensen was arrested on an aggravated domestic battery charge in 2003, records show. She could not be reached for comment.
Link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/tcoast/epaper/2008/04/26/m1c_tcmurder_0427.html