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Thread: Roy D. Coons Jr., Sentenced to Life plus 25 Years in 2017 TN Murder of 12-Year-Old Yhoana Arteaga

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    Roy D. Coons Jr., Sentenced to Life plus 25 Years in 2017 TN Murder of 12-Year-Old Yhoana Arteaga


    Yhoana Arteaga





    Edited:

    Nashville police make arrest in brutal killing of 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga

    By Jake Lowary and Joey Garrison
    The Tennessean

    A neighbor of Yhoana Arteaga, a 12-year-old girl who was killed brutally inside her family’s Goodlettsville home last month, was arrested Monday by Nashville police and charged with multiple counts, including premeditated murder.

    The Metro Nashville Police Department, at a news conference joined by Mayor Megan Barry, said police arrested Roy D. Coons, 45, who lived two doors down from Yhoana and her family.

    Police said Coons, who has dozens of prior criminal offenses on his record, was taken into custody Monday afternoon.

    He had been identified since the initial stages of the investigation as a possible suspect. DNA, among other "scientific analysis" of evidence by both MNPD and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation led to Coons, MNPD Chief Steve Anderson said.

    Coons is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of first-degree felony murder, attempted rape of a child, and especially aggravated burglary.

    “The death of anyone is especially tragic and especially when it’s a homicide,” Anderson said. “And then when it’s a young person, 12 years old, not yet reached the prime of their life, it’s especially tragic.

    "It's certainly a relief to this police department that this man is in custody, and I know it's a relief to all of Nashville.”

    Yhoana's death occurred on Aug. 10 inside her family's trailer home in the Hillview Acres Mobile Home Park on Old Dickerson Pike.

    More: 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga was 'brutally murdered,' in Goodlettsville trailer, police say

    It was described by law enforcement officials as one of the most shocking and horrific homicides that they had ever seen.

    Yhoana had been at home on crutches that day after she was injured in a skating accident. Yhoana's mother, 14-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother returned to their Goodlettsville trailer at 6:45 p.m. that night to find the pre-teen dead.

    Yhoana, a student at Liberty Collegiate Academy, had texted her mother at 5:30 p.m. that someone was knocking on the door.

    Autopsy results released last month showed she was strangled to death. Yhoana's body was found with a number of contusions and abrasions, including around her face and neck.

    Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said scientific evidence, including DNA, was crucial to making the arrest. A Davidson County Grand Jury met Monday morning and returned the multi-count indictment.

    According to police, Coons has been convicted of more than 30 offenses, both felonies and misdemeanors since 1992. The most recent was a felony marijuana possession and unlawful gun possession by a convicted felon in 2016.

    During the investigation, detectives had said they believed it's possible Yhoana "knew of" her killer, but it was not clear if they were personally acquainted. There were no obvious signs of forced entry at the residence.

    “Our heart breaks any time we lose a young person,” Barry said. “And the horrific murder of this beautiful child, Yhoana Arteaga, really just rocked the Madison community."

    The mayor thanked the police officers who worked the crime, crediting their work with “bringing her killer to justice.”

    Neighbors say Coons lives in the mobile home community for about a decade.

    Margaret Harper said he cut grass and washed cars.

    "I’ve seen him out here mowing lawns thinking he’s got the nerve," Harper said.

    Harper said she has suspected him from the beginning.

    “My gut feeling was, he’s got a guilty conscience," she said.

    She told police about an incident involving him at Yhoana's vigil.

    "I walked over and put a candle in his hand and all he did was dropped his head and walked away. I said to some detectives, 'Did you see that?'" Harper said.

    "The murder of Yhoana Arteaga was shocking to this community, including members of this police department," Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson said. "This afternoon, we have been able to bring about relief to the Old Dickerson
    Pike neighborhood and Nashville as a whole."

    Police said Coons has been convicted of more than 30 offenses since 1992. He was last convicted on drug and gun charges in January 2016. He received an eight-year probated sentence.

    "I don't think there is a member of this police department that is not troubled by the fact that when we arrest people for violent crimes they have been arrested many times before and are convicted yet on the streets," Anderson said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

    http://www.tennessean.com/story/news...-tn/701727001/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Suspect in brutal killing of 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga pleads not guilty

    By Adam Tamburin
    The Tennessean

    The man suspected of strangling and killing a 12-year-old girl in August pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday.

    Roy D. Coons Jr. appeared in Judge Monte Watkins' courtroom briefly, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. He answered questions with "yes ma'am" and "yes sir" before a court representative entered his plea.

    Coons, 45, lived two doors down from Yhoana Arteaga, who was found dead in her family's Old Dickerson Pike home on Aug. 10. Investigators have described it as a particularly brutal crime scene.

    Police say Coons, 45, was identified as a suspect in the slaying after "scientific analysis" of evidence found at the scene. He has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of first-degree felony murder, attempted rape of a child, and especially aggravated burglary.

    Coons is being held without bond while he awaits trial. Watkins appointed an attorney on his behalf.

    http://www.tennessean.com/story/news...lty/727211001/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Trial date set for man accused of strangling 12-year-old to death near Nashville

    By Kaylen Jorge
    Fox 17 Nashville

    GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A trial date has been set for a man accused in the brutal murder of a 12-year-old inside her home near Nashville.

    Roy Coons' trial for charges of premeditated murder, attempted rape of a child and aggravated burglary is set for Nov. 5. A judge set the trial date for Coons in a court appearance on Wednesday.

    Metro Police said the murder of Yhoana Arteaga was one of the "most brutal" they have ever seen. Police said Coons was Arteaga's neighbor.

    Metro Police said a final autopsy showed Arteaga was strangled to death in her family's Hillview Acres mobile home on August 10. Police said it was undetermined whether or not she was sexually assaulted.

    http://fox17.com/news/local/trial-da...near-nashville
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Mother of murdered 12-year-old girl give heartbreaking testimony in trial

    By Brandon Marshall and Blayke Roznowski
    WTVF News

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The trial for a man accused of brutally murdering a 12-year-old girl continues Tuesday, with the victim's mother taking the stand.

    Metro Nashville police say Roy Coons Jr. is facing multiple charges, including premeditated first-degree murder and attempted rape of a child, in the 2017 killing of Yhoana Arteaga.

    Arteaga's mother, Patricia Velazquez, and two siblings came home on August 10, 2017 to find her dead with blunt force trauma to her body and her clothes in disarray.

    Velazquez testified first, saying Coons cut the family’s yard for two months in 2017. Velazquez would spend the mornings with her children if they weren’t in school and would go to work at a dry cleaning business in the evenings.

    The day Arteaga was murdered, she stayed home recovering from an ankle injury, Velazquez said, while she was at work. Velazquez read the last conversation she had with her daughter in court.

    It took nearly seven weeks for police to make an arrest in the case, saying scientific evidence linked Coons to the murder.

    Coons lived two doors down from the Arteaga family.

    Prior to his arrest, a NewsChannel 5 crew spoke to Coons, who did not mention feeling sad or upset and even suggested police expand their search to outside of the mobile home park where they lived.

    Coon's father told News Channel 5 that he'd never believe his son committed the crime because it wasn’t like him.

    Less than an hour before, Arteaga had texted her mom saying someone was knocking on their door. Police say evidence at the scene led them to believe she knew her killer.

    https://www.newschannel5.com/news/tr...-year-old-girl
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Despite questions, jury convicts Roy Coons Jr. in murder of 12-year-old girl

    By Adam Tamburin
    Nashville Tennessean

    A Nashville jury on Monday found Roy Coons Jr. guilty of strangling and killing 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga inside her Goodlettsville home.

    The verdict came after about three hours of deliberation and five days of testimony in the case.

    The jury said Coons, 47, was guilty of second-degree murder, indicating they did not believe he planned the killing. Prosecutors argued for the more severe charge of premeditated first-degree murder.

    Coons also was found guilty of felony murder, attempted child rape and aggravated criminal trespassing.

    Prosecutors said the felony murder conviction guarantees Coons will not be eligible for release for at least 51 years. Sentencing on the other counts will be finalized in September.

    The audience was silent as the jury's foreman announced the verdict. Coons wept quietly as he listened.

    It was a muted end to an emotional trial that brought jurors to tears and sent the victim's mother running from the courtroom.

    Murder weapon once was a point of childhood pride

    Yhoana 's mother, Patricia Velazquez, doubled over in sobs earlier in the day when she saw the yellow taekwondo belt.

    Once a symbol of her child's hard-won success, it has become a traumatic reminder of her youngest daughter's brutal death.

    The yellow belt was tied so tightly around Yhoana's neck that it cut off her breathing and caused blood vessels in her face and eyes to burst. By the time Velazquez found Yhoana's body lying on her bedroom floor on Aug. 10, 2017, with her pajama pants and underwear at her ankles, she was cold.

    Velazquez pulled the belt loose, untying two knots at the back of Yhoana's neck, but it was too late.

    Nearly two years later, Assistant District Attorney Pam Anderson held the yellow belt out during closing argument in the murder trial.

    Velazquez's stoic demeanor shattered. She slumped down in her seat at the front of the gallery and cried out before running for the door.

    Coons watched quietly from the defense table in a blue dress shirt and a tie.

    The jury began deliberations at about 2 p.m.

    Trial focused on DNA evidence, 'suspicious behaviors

    Yhoana stayed home from school the day she died, nursing a skating injury.

    At 4:15 p.m., she sent her mother a text message saying someone was at the door. Minutes later she said it was the man who mowed the lawn, and that he was gone.

    Prosecutors said Coons, a neighbor who did lawn work for the family, left the front door of the family trailer, climbed through a bathroom window and attacked her.

    'Someone is knocking on the door': A 12-year-old victim's final message to her mother opens murder trial

    At trial, prosecutors built their case around DNA evidence from the crime scene, cellphone data showing Coons was in the area soon after Yhoana texted her mother and Coons' "suspicious behaviors" in days after the crime.

    DNA on Yhoana's body and on the bathroom windowsill matched Coons, although experts said some were partial matches. Coons told detectives he might have shaken her hand or laughed with her before she died, but her family said they had never interacted.

    Prosecutors said the DNA was definitive evidence tying Coons to the crime. Defense attorney David Hopkins said the DNA could be remnants left behind from work Coons and his father did in the trailer years ago.

    Prosecutor Jeff George said jurors should use their "common sense," questioning the likelihood that Coons' DNA "sat dormant" in the trailer for years before Yhoana's death.

    "Over two years later on Aug. 10, 2017, his DNA just so happens to show up in the two locations that we know that the murderer touched: Her body and the windowsill," George said during his closing argument. "That would be a coincidence that strains the edges of reason."

    During the trial, prosecutors also pointed to Coons' comments to detectives, suggesting he knew Yhoana was strangled before that detail was released publicly. They also questioned Coons' acquaintances, who said Coons told them he had killed someone weeks after Yhoana's death.

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    'You don't convict people on maybes'

    In his closing argument, Hopkins said prosecutors had failed to produce enough evidence that Coons had committed the crime. Hopkins pointed to the fact that there was no fingerprint evidence or eyewitnesses placing Coons at the crime scene.

    He said police never found shoes matching tread marks found on Yhoana's face. Hopkins also pointed to evidence of other men's DNA on and near Yhoana as signs that someone else could be responsible.

    “You don’t convict people on maybes," Hopkins said. "You don’t convict people on guesses.”

    Before the jury began deliberating Monday afternoon, Anderson acknowledged "there are maybes and, yes, there are guesses” involved in the prosecution's theory of what happened that day.

    But she said that while some of the specifics of the killing would remain unknown, there was enough evidence to prove Coons had done it.

    “You have so many strands that are weaved together, that are wrapped around,” she said. Doubts brought by the defense team “can't cut through all of those strands."

    In the end, the jury agreed that Coons had killed Yhoana, although their verdict showed they disagreed with the prosecutors' assertion that he had planned the crime.

    Prosecutors and police detectives said they were pleased with the outcome of the trial, which followed a grueling investigation.

    "Justice absolutely was served for this family and for this community," George said outside the courtroom after the verdict.

    Speaking through an interpreter after the verdict, Velazquez, Yhoana's mother, thanked police and prosecutors and said the jury had made the right decision.

    "He can no longer hurt or harm anyone else," Velazquez said. "God can forgive him for the things that he has done, but he is in the place where should be.

    https://www.tennessean.com/story/new...ga/1736396001/

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    Coons sentenced 25 years on top of life sentence for murder of 12-year-old girl

    By Booby Atkinson
    Fox 17 Nashville


    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Roy Coons Jr. was sentenced on Wednesday to an additional 25 years in prison on top of the life sentence he already received for the murder of a 12-year-old girl in August 2017.

    Judge Monte Watkins handed down the sentence of 25 more years to Coons for the attempted rape charges he also faced in connection to the brutal crime that left the 12-year-old Yhoana Arteaga dead nearly two and half years ago.

    Coons was previously given life in prison for the murder, of which he was found guilty back in July of 2019. Coons was convicted of forcing his way into Arteaga's trailer on Old Dickerson Pike while she was home alone. He attempted to rape her and then strangled her with a taekwondo belt. Her mother found her dead hours later.

    Coons lived two homes down from Arteaga and came in through a window in the trailer. His DNA was found four times at the crime scene.

    Investigators called the crime the "most brutal" they'd ever seen.

    https://fox17.com/news/local/coons-s...-year-old-girl
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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