Black True Crime Podcast · iHeartPodcasts

Catherine & Curtis Jones: The Youngest Siblings to EVER be tried for First Degree Murder (Episode 210)

·1 hr 1 min·4 clips

The prosecution charged 12-year-old Curtis Jones and 13-year-old Catherine Jones as adults for first-degree murder.

1. Black Tree Crime covers the 1999 murder of Sonia Nicole Coleman Spites in Port St. John, Florida. 2. Hosts Kayla and Nikai introduce the case and explain that Sonia was 29, married, and the mother of two girls. 3. The episode asks what drove a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy into a first-degree murder case. 4. Brevard County Police received a 911 call on Wednesday, January 6, 1999, about a woman who had been shot multiple times at 985 Tope Street. 5. Officers found Sonia dead at the house, and the hosts note that she was buried in Mobile, Alabama, after more than 300 people attended her funeral. 6. Sonia was born in Detroit on April 23, 1969, worked as a teacher's assistant, and helped sensory-impaired children. 7. The hosts describe Ricardo, Sonia's estranged husband, as serving a 20-year prison sentence when the murder happened. 8. Ricardo's father told him about Sonia's death by driving to the prison days later. 9. Sonia had been living with 38-year-old Curtis Jones in January 1999, and his two children, Catherine and Curtis, were in the house. 10. Police recovered a silver .40 caliber handgun at the scene. 11. A neighbor reported that someone knocked on their door and confessed to shooting a gun inside 985 Tope Street. 12. Catherine Jones, age 13, and Curtis Jones, age 12, were found hiding in the woods near their home and taken into custody without incident. 13. The prosecution said the siblings took their father's 9mm gun and killed Sonia because they were tired of her being around and stealing their father's love. 14. The hosts emphasize that the children never confirmed that motive on the record. 15. Prosecutors offered a plea deal for second-degree murder with an 18-year sentence and lifelong probation if they admitted guilt. 16. Catherine accepted the deal and told the judge, "there was no reason to do it," while crying. 17. Catherine says she spent the first 15 years of her life in prison and 15 months in solitary confinement at Lowell Correctional Facility. 18. She also describes dipping sheets in toilets to cool down in a cell with no ventilation and says the system treated Black prisoners differently. 19. Kayla and Nikai use direct, emotionally charged commentary and keep returning to the children, the abuse, and the prison conditions. 20. People interested in juvenile justice, Florida true crime, and prison conditions would likely follow this episode. 21. Listeners looking for light-hearted coverage or a fully resolved crime story may want to skip it.

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