Thomas Coy received consecutive prison terms after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in Jasmine Taylor’s death.
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Mo. — A Missouri man was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for killing a 23-year-old Amazon delivery driver who was shot while making deliveries on a rural Lawrence County road in February 2025.
Thomas Coy pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Jasmine Taylor. A judge sentenced Coy on Nov. 2 to 30 years for the murder conviction and 10 years for armed criminal action, with the terms ordered to run consecutively, according to court records cited by local news outlets. Coy had originally faced a first-degree murder charge before entering the guilty plea.
The case began on Feb. 5, 2025, when Taylor was driving an Amazon delivery vehicle on Lawrence County Road 2152, west of Highway 97 in southwest Missouri. Investigators said Coy saw the delivery vehicle traveling along the road, returned to his home to get a pellet rifle and waited for the driver to come back. Authorities said Taylor and Coy did not know each other.
Lawrence County Sheriff Chris Berry said during the investigation that Coy waited for the Amazon driver to return before shooting her. Taylor’s vehicle then left the roadway and crashed into a fence. Video supplied by Amazon to investigators showed Taylor slumped in the driver’s seat as the vehicle continued toward a driveway, according to reports based on the probable cause statement.
Investigators said Coy later went to the crashed delivery vehicle, removed Taylor from the driver’s seat and left her in a roadside ditch. The incident was initially reported as a traffic crash. Taylor was taken to Mercy Hospital Joplin, where medical staff later determined that she had been struck in the head by a projectile from the pellet rifle.
Taylor remained hospitalized after the shooting and died from her injuries on Feb. 9, 2025. Prosecutors upgraded the case after her death, adding a first-degree murder charge to the armed criminal action count. Earlier records show Coy had initially been accused of first-degree assault before Taylor died.
Authorities said Coy admitted during the investigation that he had shot Taylor and described what happened after her vehicle crashed. Berry said investigators developed information about a possible motive but did not publicly disclose the specific reason for the attack. Neighbors told local media that Coy had previously complained about delivery vehicles traveling too fast on the road, but authorities did not establish that complaint publicly as the motive for Taylor’s killing.
Coy was scheduled to stand trial in late September 2026 before entering his guilty plea earlier that month. The plea changed the murder count from first-degree murder to second-degree murder while retaining the armed criminal action charge. His sentencing on Monday resolved the criminal case without a trial.
The 40-year sentence consists of the 30-year term for second-degree murder followed by the 10-year term for armed criminal action. With sentencing complete, Coy is expected to serve the prison terms imposed by the Lawrence County court.