Ky. woman pleads guilty to murder, faces life sentence for cutting baby out of womb

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Kathy Coy of Morgantown, Ky., on April 19, 2011, in Bowling Green, Ky.

(Credit: AP Photo/The Daily News, Miranda Pederson)

(CBS/AP) BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - 34-year-old Kathy Coy has pleaded guilty and now faces a life sentence for murdering a young pregnant woman and taking her baby from the womb last April.

At Friday's hearing, prosecutors said 21-year-old Jamie Stice was shocked with a stun gun before having her wrists and throat cut. Coy then cut Stice's baby from her womb and left the woman dead beside a rural dirt road.

Coy will be sentenced March 1. She faces life in prison without parole.

Jeannie and Eric Stice were among 35 relatives and friends of Jamie Stice who came to Warren County Court to witness Coy's plea.

"There's no justice that can be served," brother Eric Stice said, calling his sister's killer a monster. "The worst possible thing that they could do to her would not suffice the actions she committed. She took a beautiful, innocent young lady from a world of people who loved her, including an infant son."

Psychologist Eric Drogin testified briefly before the plea was entered, saying he met with Coy as recently as this week and that she suffers from a mental illness.

During a hearing in April, Kentucky State Police detective Chad Winn testified that Coy and Stice were Facebook friends and that Coy had lured the mother-to-be out of her home to shop for baby supplies. Stice's mutilated body was found off a dirt road on April 14, a day after she was seen leaving her home with Coy.

Police arrested Coy at a local hospital after she had arrived with the infant but showed no signs of having given birth.

Coy eventually led detectives to a wooded area off a dirt road, where Stice's remains were located.

Complete Coverage of Kathy Coy on Crimesider

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by ahendryx819 February 21, 2012 6:19 PM EST: These types of stories **** me off, because everyone blames these horrific murders on mental illness. It makes everyone who suffers from a legitimate mental illness seem like a monster. In reality, there are few mental illnesses that can't be treated for the person to lead a normal life. And I speak from experience, because everything from depression to bipolar disorder to paranoid schizophrenia runs in my family. And yet, none of my relatives have murdered anyone.; Reply to this comment


by kathrynlynch February 21, 2012 5:46 PM EST: She must stay in prison until her child bearing years are certifiably over. That way she will never mother another child.; Reply to this comment


by Melded February 21, 2012 4:51 PM EST: She is a CIA asset gone off the reservation.; Reply to this comment


by wlhoppers February 21, 2012 4:49 PM EST: A life sentence isn't enough for this monster. Give her the death penalty and enforce it - quickly.; Reply to this comment


by pak31 February 20, 2012 12:33 PM EST: I think I remember this story. It's absolutely awful that humans are capable of such disgusting behavior. I hope people can at least use this case as a reminder....Don't trust people you don't know, just because you "know" them on Facebook doesn't mean they are truly your friends. Unless you know them well enough in person, it's not worth it.; Reply to this comment


by hbkgirl5 February 20, 2012 7:06 AM EST: Absolutely disgusting! She should spend the rest of her life in jail having to think about what she did everyday, not only did she take an innocent girls life but also took away that babies mom which it will never get to know.....so sad.; Reply to this comment


by hbkgirl5 February 20, 2012 7:03 AM EST: Absolutely disgusting....she should spend the rest of her life in jail thinking about what she did everyday. SHe took an innocent girls life, not to mention taking that babies mother away from it.; Reply to this comment


by jamiesauntsherry February 18, 2012 11:05 PM EST: so i would like to know wat mental illness they are blaming this time for a murder?susan smith killed her kids...mental illness.

all these people that dont have the balls to say yeah i did it.i just wanted to or i felt like it.instead of the devil made me do it.or im sick pity me...well who the hell pitied my niece that day?who came to her rescue?who said not her?not one person.not one god,not the fates not karma not the goddesses themselves.no one saved her....the fact is a human who made a choice did this and a life is owed.i feel it with all my heart and all my soul that until she has left this earth my niece will not rest for fear she could take another persons child from them.i hope the next 80 years take from her a lil everyday wat she took from us.and if there is a god or goddess allow her to live through it all coherant of wat is happening to her.its almost a year and my life heart has not changed.it isnt easier.i live it every day and i hate beyond any hate i have ever felt.this is wat murder brings.a whole so deep you can never fill it again.when do we get to send letters and say wat we feel.wen does our healing begin?ranting helps a lil but this isnt justive for jamie.it feels like justice for coy.she found a way to save her own life and used mental illness to do it.here's a bone everyone...we wont have a drug out trial and she will go to jail but this debt she owes we are going to have to take wat we can get.people escape.people get transferred?wat if she is doing this to get transferred to a mental facility.....my mind wanders to wat i know can happen...anyone who knew jamie knows wat justice would be fair.....; Reply to this comment


by IEtOut February 17, 2012 6:32 PM EST: And, to think, she could have just gone to one of the thousands of crack houses in Rockford Illinois and bought herself a baby for $40.; Reply to this comment