Man guilty of fatal kidnapping of Boston mother to be sentenced Tuesday

 Man guilty of fatal kidnapping of Boston mother to be sentenced Tuesday

Jassy Correia, 22 and living in Lynn with her 2-year-old daughter, had celebrated her birthday with friends at a Boston nightclub the night of Feb. 23, 2019. But at the end of the night, she never made it home.

Instead, a federal jury found in June, Correia was kidnapped after she left the club by Louis Coleman III, a Providence man. Four days after her disappearance, police in Delaware stopped Colemans car on Interstate 95. Correias body was in the trunk.

Following his conviction in June, Coleman, 36, will return to the United States District Court in Boston on Tuesday, where he faces a mandatory life sentence for kidnapping resulting in death.Read more: The killing of Jassy Correia: How a 23-year-olds birthday celebration turned deadly

Early on the morning of Feb. 24, 2019, after leaving the downtown nightclub Venu at closing time, Correia got into an argument with her friends and split from the group. Coleman approached her on the street outside, after she failed to secure an Uber ride home, surveillance footage presented during the trial showed.

The footage showed them leaving the area in Colemans car. But two hours later, additional surveillance videos showed Coleman parking outside his Providence apartment, exiting his car and dragging a woman into his home.

Correias father and a friend reported Correia missing the afternoon of Feb. 26. That same day, police said they learned from further reviewing security camera footage, Coleman bought duct tape, surgical gloves, bleach and other items at a Walmart in Providence.

Coleman was identified as a suspect within days of Correias disappearance but was gone from his apartment by the time police searched the residence on Feb. 28, 2019.

That afternoon, Delaware State Police stopped him on Interstate 95 near Wilmington. When a trooper asked if anyone else was in the car, Coleman responded, shes in the trunk, investigators said. Police said they found Correias lifeless body in the trunk, inside a suitcase. Police said she was covered in what appeared to be baking soda. The police also located pruning shears, a plastic gas container, a lighter and gloves inside the vehicle.Read more: Vehicle tracking system was used to catch Louis Coleman III, man accused of kidnapping and killing Jassy Correia

Correia died by strangulation, prosecutors said, and suffered blunt force injury to the head, torso, upper body and neck.

While in a Delaware State Police holding cell and under arrest, Coleman was asked about an injury on his cheekbone covered by a bandage.

He told troopers it was from the girl. Later, Coleman changed his mind and said the wound happened after he cut himself shaving, court filings said.

Colemans senseless and violent actions, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing, and his actions in furtherance of his horrific plan to mutilate and dispose of the remains of Jassy Correia, cry out for just punishment. A sentence of life imprisonment without release is that just punishment.

Though allowed as a punishment for kidnapping resulting in death, the government is not seeking the death penalty for Coleman.

In their own sentencing memorandum filed in federal court, Colemans lawyers acknowledged he had no sway regarding his sentence, required by federal law to be life in prison. He requested to serve the term at a federal prison in Tuscon, Arizona, nearby his family.

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