In June 2015, someone brutally killed LaJoya McCoy just one mile away from her residence in Monrovia, California. The murder shocked the entire community and forced the authorities to take necessary actions. The gruesome case will feature in this week’s episode of Dateline NBC and uncover details that people might not know. Titled ‘The Dead of Night,’ the episode will air on the network on Thursday, December 28, at 10 p.m. ET.
As soon as the investigations began, the authorities named Jose Turner as a prime suspect and began watching his movements. Apart from watching Turner, the investigators left no stone unturned to unveil the real cause of death. According to reports, the police found McCoy’s body inside her car one mile away from her apartment and sent the body for medical examination. The report said McCoy had been stabbed multiple times and strangled to death. The investigation also revealed that the victim went missing in mid-June, and no one heard from her for days. Her co-workers also reported that McCoy didn’t show up at work.
Her parents filed a missing report, and the authorities began searching for LaJoya McCoy. Sadly, they discovered her dead body inside LaJoya’s abandoned car. One month after the discovery, the authorities arrested Jose Turner for the brutal murder of LaJoya McCoy. During the trial, the jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
But how did the authorities catch the killer? Let’s dig in and find out more about the case.
Dateline NBC: How was LaJoya McCoy’s killer caught?
As mentioned above, the police arrested Jose Turner one month after LaJoya McCoy’s gruesome murder. The duo had been in a relationship for a decade and had two children together. Everything seemed normal in their relationship at first. However, things started to go downhill when McCoy broke up with Turner. Reports suggest that Turner used to write a journal in which he expressed anger and a desire to kill McCoy.
The authorities collected DNA from the crime scene and underneath McCoy’s fingernails. The investigation also indicated that Turner had been stalking his ex-girlfriend and threatened to kill her. The DNA evidence turned out to be integral in the arrest of Jose Turner. As soon as the trial started, the prosecution team presented a lot of evidence against Jose Turner. The prosecutors believed that Jose Turner killed his ex-girlfriend LaJoya McCoy and had no remorse for what he did. Meanwhile, the DNA evidence presented in the court conclusively proved that Turner killed his ex-girlfriend, LaJoya McCoy.
Turner sentenced to life in LaJoya’s murder case
The prosecution team also noted that the investigators found some misplaced items from McCoy’s apartment in Turner’s vehicle. Additionally, they reportedly discovered a “green book” in which he wrote about killing his ex. After a lot of statements from both sides, the jury deliberated for 8 hours and found him guilty of the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend, LaJoya McCoy. Almost a month after the guilty verdict, the court sentenced Jose Turner to 26 years in prison. Currently, Turner is serving his sentence at the North Kern State Prison in Los Angeles.
In 2020, a true-crime documentary series ‘Fatal Attraction’ featured an episode based on LaJoya McCoy’s murder case. The episode saw a dramatized version of the case.
Dateline NBC airs new episodes every Thursday and Friday.
