Gruesome Details Emerge About the Murder of Jessica Lunsford

In documents released Wednesday by the state attorney’s office, state prosecutors have said that 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was raped, bound with speaker wire, wrapped up in garbage bags, and put into a hole in the ground before being buried alive by her kidnapper. A convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey, 46, is charged in her slaying. Couey's criminal record prior to this incident includes multiple arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, and larceny. He also faced charges of fondling a child under the age of 16, but records don't show how the case was resolved.

Third-grader Jessica was last seen Feb. 23 when her grandmother tucked her into bed at her home in Homasassa, Florida, just north of Tampa. When her grandmother went to awaken her the next morning, she was gone without a trace. A door at the home was unlocked and one of Jessica's dolls was missing. Her body was found March 19 in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, just 150 yards from her home, behind the mobile home where Couey was living. She had been wrapped in two plastic bags knotted at her feet and head, and she was wearing shorts and shirt—different clothing from the pink nightgown she was wearing when she was abducted. According to a coroner’s report, Jessica died of asphyxiation. Her small body was found kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin.

Officials said that Couey was living in the mobile home with his half-sister and two other people, and Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. She may have been alive even when Citrus County police stopped twice at the mobile home to question the residents about Jessica’s disappearance. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia. After his arrest, Couey told prosecutors that the other people living in the mobile home did not know he had kidnapped the girl and kept her there. According to the documents released by prosecutors, stained clothing and bedding were removed from Couey’s bedroom, and tests are being done to determine whether the stains are blood, and if so, whose blood it is.

Coouey has pleaded not guilty, even though he confessed to raping and killing Jessica and told authorities where to look for her body. In some countries he would be executed immediately. But this is America, and because he is officially pleading not guilty it will probably be years before he has to pay for his horrific crimes, and even then he may not have to pay with his life. So far his attorney has not made any public statement on his behalf.