Woman pleads guilty to killing a mom, claiming her baby

September 2024 ยท 2 minute read

An Indiana woman will spend decades in prison for killing a mother in 2015 and trying to pass off the woman's baby as her own.

Geraldine R. Jones, 39, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Friday in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Samantha J. Fleming. 

She also pleaded guilty to criminal confinement for holding her three-month-old daughter Serenity against her will. 

Jones will be sentenced on May 25 to 30 years in prison and 10 years of probation under a plea agreement, according to her attorney, Lisa DeLey.

Geraldine Jones, 39, (left) murdered 23-year-old mother Samantha Fleming (right) in 2015 to steal her baby Geraldine Jones, 39, (left) murdered 23-year-old mother Samantha Fleming (right) in 2015 to steal her baby

Geraldine Jones, 39, (left) murdered 23-year-old mother Samantha Fleming (right) in 2015 to steal her baby. She pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Friday 

'The state made the offer and Geraldine was satisfied with it,' DeLey said. 'She's ready to put this behind her. She's at peace.'

Prosecutors said Jones drove to Fleming's home in Anderson on April 6, 2015, and posed as a state child services worker, dressed in business attire and with a binder of fake paperwork. 

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Jones told Fleming she was there to drive her and her baby to a court hearing in Gary.

They left together and no one heard from her again. On April 10, four days later, her boyfriend reported her missing. 

The young mother's body was found on April 17 in Jones' home.

Jones pretended she was a child welfare worker and told Fleming (left) to come with her to court with her baby Serenity (right) who was three months old at the time Jones pretended she was a child welfare worker and told Fleming (left) to come with her to court with her baby Serenity (right) who was three months old at the time

Jones pretended she was a child welfare worker and told Fleming (left) to come with her to court with her baby Serenity (right) who was three months old at the time

Jones will spend 30 years in prison as agreed by her plea deal 

Jones will spend 30 years in prison as agreed by her plea deal 

She had been stabbed 10 times then doused in bleach and hidden in a plastic bin bag and placed in a closet. 

Jones fled to Texas and had left behind baby Serenity with her members of her family. 

She was later arrested and extradited back to Indiana.

The woman was desperate to have a family and had told her own relatives that she was pregnant with twins.  

Authorities found a furnished nursery in her home.

Although police believed Fleming was killed in Gary, authorities decided to prosecute Jones in Madison County because that's where the initial crime occurred. 

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