Jocelyn Peters was 31 weeks pregnant, in bed at her Missouri apartment working on baby shower invitations when a man entered and shot her in the eye, killing her. Cornelius Green, her boyfriend and the unborn child's father, later called 911 to report he'd discovered her body. On Tuesday, Green was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the 2016 murder after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to a count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and a count of murder-for-hire, per a release from the US Attorney's Office. Green, now 42, was married when he got involved with Peters but led her to believe he and his wife were divorcing, CBS News reports. He was also involved with other women, prosecutors said. Green, a middle school principal, stole money from a school dance team fundraiser to pay a friend to kill Peters.
He gave that friend, Phillip Cutler, keys to Peters' apartment, and left town himself so he'd have an alibi. He returned to St. Louis after Cutler confirmed Peters was dead, and only went to her apartment himself after first trying to get Peters' mother (who was unavailable) to go check on her daughter herself. "The depravity of asking a mother to go find Jocelyn's body, knowing she was dead, can't be matched," says an assistant US attorney. Cutler was convicted of the same charges as Green, and sentenced to the same prison term, People reports. (More Missouri stories.)