Connecticut Man Gets 30 Years to Life for 2024 Drug-Related Murder of Vermont Woman

Jakiy Tramaine Corey Keith was sentenced to 30 years to life for killing 29-year-old Kayla Wright, whose body was found in a toolbox in a Vermont river.

Connecticut Man Sentenced to 30 Years to Life for Murder of Derby Woman in Vermont

Google News MT — Crime (en) reports that a Connecticut man has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the 2024 killing of a Vermont woman in a crime investigators describe as drug-related.

Jakiy Tramaine Corey Keith entered a plea deal, admitting he shot 29-year-old Kayla Wright three times at a house in Derby, Vermont. He then concealed her body inside a toolbox, which was later discovered along the Missisquoi River in Troy. Keith was sentenced on Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Rory Thibault.

Investigators say Keith killed Wright after she threatened to inform police about his drug-dealing operation. A witness and co-defendant, Terron "Josh" Pendleton, testified that Wright had demanded more drugs and threatened to expose the entire enterprise. "She was threatening to burn the whole house down, basically," Pendleton told the court. He also stated that Keith ordered him to clean up the scene after the shooting.

Footage from a hidden camera positioned outside the house captured two individuals carrying a toolbox to a car on February 2, 2024. The toolbox, containing Wright's body, was recovered from the Missisquoi River several days later.

Two other suspects — Aaron Camp and Pendleton — are already serving prison terms for accessory to murder.

The sentencing followed two days of testimony, including from Vermont State Police investigators who walked the court through the evidence gathered against Keith. The proceedings were marked by emotional impact statements from Wright's family.

"Kayla died in that nasty, drug-infested Rooney house with no one to hold her hand, no one to tell her it would be okay, no one to comfort her as she left this world," Wright's mother said in her statement to the court.

Wright's sister, Samantha Perkins, told Keith directly that he had used Wright's phone to send messages to her family in the days following the killing. "I was the one you were messaging pretending to be Kayla, and then you told me you messaged me on your fake Facebook telling me she was dead, alive, dead, all the nasty details," Perkins said. "My children will never know my person, their aunt, my best friend. I was seven months pregnant when you were harassing me, by the way, about my sister."

Wright's father addressed the court briefly. "I'm heartbroken; I cry every day," he said.

Keith himself read from a prepared statement, acknowledging his guilt and apologising to Wright's family. "I took Kayla's life and every part of the future she should have had. To her family, I am deeply sorry," he said, adding that a difficult upbringing had shaped his path and expressing hope for a different future.

Judge Thibault was not persuaded by the mitigating factors. The manner in which Wright's body was disposed of, Keith's continued drug-dealing activity prior to his arrest, and his callous treatment of Wright's family in the aftermath of the killing were cited as determinative in the sentencing decision.

Wright's family and friends responded to the verdict with a collective sense of relief, having heard Keith confirmed to spend decades behind bars.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)