‘Life of redemption’: Florida woman sent to prison for murder at age 13 dedicates life to mentorship, advocacy

By Marlei Martinez

Click here for updates on this story

    ORANGE COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — It was a case that drew national attention in 1999. A brother and sister in Brevard County were sent to adult prison for killing their would-be stepmom. They were just 12 and 13 years old.

That young woman was Catherine Jones, and she was one of the youngest kids in America to be sent to adult prison for murder.

“I wasn’t this calculated, cold-blooded killer like I was portrayed in the media,” Jones said. “I was a 13-year-old child.”

Now nearly 25 years later, Jones is sharing her story for the first time since leaving prison. In an exclusive three-part “Saving Our Streets” report, WESH 2’s Marlei Martinez sat down with Jones about what she calls “living a life of redemption.”

PART I: “Life of Redemption” A scrunchie in her hair and handcuffs on her wrists — at just 13, Jones and her 12-year-old brother Curtis were arrested for killing their father’s fiancée, Sonya Nicole Speights, inside their Port St. John home on Jan. 6, 1999.

“I shot Nicole Speights,” Jones confessed to a judge during her trial.

Jones was an eighth grader at the time and gripped the podium during her sentencing.

“Sir, there was no reason to do it,” Jones said through tears to the judge. “I may have thought at the time that it was, but there was no reason to take another person’s life.”

The state initially charged the children with first-degree murder and went for life sentences. But ultimately, the pair took a plea deal: second-degree murder for 18 years in prison and life probation. Jones completed her prison sentence in 2015.

She now serves on Orange County’s Citizens Safety Task Force. She is part of the over 30-member team of police officers, prosecutors, pastors and community activists that Mayor Jerry Demings brought together after the deadly Pine Hills shooting spree in February. The task force’s mission is to come up with ways to prevent violence, particularly among young people.

At this month’s meeting, Jones brought her kids along.

“I want them to know that their voices matter in the community and that it takes all of us for one of us to be successful,” Jones said. “I want them to feel apart of it and know that they’re responsible for other people.”

Jones is now one of the county’s Credible Messengers. Credible Messengers are people who use their lived experiences to mentor the youth. It is all part of what Jones calls her “life of redemption.”

We asked her: “When you look back on what you did, why did you do it?”

“There’s no justification for taking someone else’s life,” Jones said. “In my 13-year-old mind, I could have gave you a bunch of reasons of how I felt desperate, I felt hopeless, I felt trapped and angry and bitter for everything that happened to me. But nothing justifies what I did, and I wouldn’t even try to.”

Back during the trial, Jones’ defense team said she lived a tough life.

“She’s lived a life that we don’t want children to live,” defense attorney Keith Szachacz said.

Defense attorney Kepler Funk also weighed in.

“She’s not a monster of a person. She’s a regular little girl that committed a horrible act,” Funk said.

Now nearly a quarter of a century later, Jones talked about her childhood trauma at a Peace and Justice Institute conference in Orlando in May. She told the crowd that another person close to the family sexually abused her.

“All I knew is that I was desperate,” Jones said. “And I was at wit’s end.”

That’s when Jones said she made a decision.

“I said I was going to do anything in my power to get us out of that situation. And so, at 13, I formulated a plan to take the life of everyone in that house. I held each of them responsible,” Jones said. “And so at 13, I made the decision that I made, and I went to adult prison.”

Jones said she wished she had someone back then to give her hope.

We asked Jones: “Are you sorry for what you did?”

Her response: “Absolutely. If I could go back to January 6, 1999, and trade places, I would without hesitation. But the life that I live now is my eternal apology that hopefully, that somehow, someway, the scales get balanced, and I can do more good than I did harm.”

At the turn of the century, Jones was branded as one of America’s youngest convicted killers.

But now, she is dedicating her life to cultivating new titles: mom, mentor and juvenile justice advocate.

There is so much more to Catherine Jones’ story. On Thursday at 5 and 6 p.m., tune in to parts 2 and 3 of this special “Saving Our Streets” report, where Jones talks about growing up in prison, her juvenile justice advocacy work and what she said transformed her life.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.