News / People
John Couey Sentenced to Death for Jessica Lunsford's Murder
A Florida judge sentenced John Couey to death Friday for the kidnapping, rape and murder of nine-year old Jessica Lunsford.
Couey, a convicted sex offender, buried Lunsford alive in two black trash bags with her hands bound and her favorite purple stuffed dolphin tucked in her arms, Circuit Judge Richard Howard said. Lunsford's body was found in a grave in Couey's yard about three weeks after she disappeared.
Mark Lunsford, Jessica's father, has led a national crusade for harsher sentences for child murderers.
A Miami jury convicted Couey in March of taking the girl from her bedroom to his nearby trailer in 2005, where he raped her and buried her alive.
Jessica's killing prompted Florida and a number of other states to pass new laws cracking down on sex offenders and to improve tracking of them through databases and satellite positioning devices.
