Sharonda, a junior, ran on the track team and had taken up boxing and lifting weights. She baby-sat for her neighbor, who said she was responsible and career-oriented."She wasn't a problem child," said Wilson Brooks, 35, a neighbor and close friend. "She was an athlete, a good student and she was very career-oriented.
Sharonda, 16, nicknamed Pumpkin, was last seen on November 9, 2000, when she went to a basketball game in Vallejo, California. She never returned and it has not been established that she ever arrived at the game at all. The next morning her body was found in a roadside ditch south of Napa, California, six miles away from her home. She was full clothed except for her shoes, and had apparently been beaten, but not enough to kill her. An autopy determined that she had been raped and strangled. Her backpack was later found in a trash bin in Vallejo and turned in by a concerned citizen.
Kevin Sterling Jones was arrested and charged with Pumpkin's murder and an adult woman's murder in April 2003. Police say he offered Pumpkin a ride while she was waiting for the bus to take her to the basketball game, and then raped and murdered her. He knew her slightly and she would have trusted him enough to get in his car. Jones was a suspect in Pumpkin's murder for years before a witness came forward and gave the evidence police needed to arrest him.
******UPDATE: Kevin Jones was sentenced to life in prison for Sharonda's murder
Sharonda, 16, nicknamed Pumpkin, was last seen on November 9, 2000, when she went to a basketball game in Vallejo, California. She never returned and it has not been established that she ever arrived at the game at all. The next morning her body was found in a roadside ditch south of Napa, California, six miles away from her home. She was full clothed except for her shoes, and had apparently been beaten, but not enough to kill her. An autopy determined that she had been raped and strangled. Her backpack was later found in a trash bin in Vallejo and turned in by a concerned citizen.
Kevin Sterling Jones was arrested and charged with Pumpkin's murder and an adult woman's murder in April 2003. Police say he offered Pumpkin a ride while she was waiting for the bus to take her to the basketball game, and then raped and murdered her. He knew her slightly and she would have trusted him enough to get in his car. Jones was a suspect in Pumpkin's murder for years before a witness came forward and gave the evidence police needed to arrest him.
******UPDATE: Kevin Jones was sentenced to life in prison for Sharonda's murder
Sharonda, a junior, ran on the track team and had taken up boxing and lifting weights. She baby-sat for her neighbor, who said she was responsible and career-oriented."She wasn't a problem child," said Wilson Brooks, 35, a neighbor and close friend. "She was an athlete, a good student and she was very career-oriented.
Sharonda, 16, nicknamed Pumpkin, was last seen on November 9, 2000, when she went to a basketball game in Vallejo, California. She never returned and it has not been established that she ever arrived at the game at all. The next morning her body was found in a roadside ditch south of Napa, California, six miles away from her home. She was full clothed except for her shoes, and had apparently been beaten, but not enough to kill her. An autopy determined that she had been raped and strangled. Her backpack was later found in a trash bin in Vallejo and turned in by a concerned citizen.
Kevin Sterling Jones was arrested and charged with Pumpkin's murder and an adult woman's murder in April 2003. Police say he offered Pumpkin a ride while she was waiting for the bus to take her to the basketball game, and then raped and murdered her. He knew her slightly and she would have trusted him enough to get in his car. Jones was a suspect in Pumpkin's murder for years before a witness came forward and gave the evidence police needed to arrest him.
******UPDATE: Kevin Jones was sentenced to life in prison for Sharonda's murder
Sharonda, 16, nicknamed Pumpkin, was last seen on November 9, 2000, when she went to a basketball game in Vallejo, California. She never returned and it has not been established that she ever arrived at the game at all. The next morning her body was found in a roadside ditch south of Napa, California, six miles away from her home. She was full clothed except for her shoes, and had apparently been beaten, but not enough to kill her. An autopy determined that she had been raped and strangled. Her backpack was later found in a trash bin in Vallejo and turned in by a concerned citizen.
Kevin Sterling Jones was arrested and charged with Pumpkin's murder and an adult woman's murder in April 2003. Police say he offered Pumpkin a ride while she was waiting for the bus to take her to the basketball game, and then raped and murdered her. He knew her slightly and she would have trusted him enough to get in his car. Jones was a suspect in Pumpkin's murder for years before a witness came forward and gave the evidence police needed to arrest him.
******UPDATE: Kevin Jones was sentenced to life in prison for Sharonda's murder
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