Coy sentenced to life in prison for killing pregnant Kentucky woman

BOWLING GREEN, KY (WAVE) - It was a gruesome Kentucky murder that made national headlines.  Thursday, the woman who killed a young pregnant mother and ripped her baby boy right out of her womb, found out she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

Family members of 21-year-old Jamie Stice cried as her killer, Kathy Michelle Coy, was sentenced in Bowling Green.  They said the legal end brings them some closure but, their grief and anger may never go away.

When police found the mutilated body of Jamie Stice last April, the pregnant mom was face down.  She had been dumped in a wooded area off a dirt road and her baby boy was gone.

Kentucky State Police Detective Chad Winn remembered finding Stice's body, "Her throat was slit, her wrists were slit, she was disemboweled and the baby was obviously cut out of her."

Police would later find out that 34-year-old Kathy Coy, a woman who had her own children taken away from her, befriended Stice on Facebook, lured her out of her home to go shopping for baby supplies and then used a stun gun to subdue her.

After the murder, Coy showed up at the hospital saying she just had the baby. The umbilical cord was still attached.

Thursday, Warren Circuit Judge John Grise didn't hold back, saying while the word evil is tossed around too much, what Coy did was "Evil at work."

He told Coy, "In my 30 years of law, I've never seen a crime this horrendous."

By agreeing to a plea of guilty but mentally ill, Coy avoided the death penalty. She did not speak during sentencing.

Stice's Cousin Carolyn Miracle told WBKO Television, " If she can say I'm guilty to be able to live, she can at least say I'm sorry to the family."

Detective Winn told reporters outside the courtroom, "There's a certain amount of closure in this, but you don't get satisfaction in a case like this, it's the most horrific case I've ever worked."

The baby's grandmother wanted to address Coy before she was taken away.  Kathleen Smith told Coy, " So many people will endure the suffering and violation you have caused for the rest of their lives, including your own family."

Jamie Stice's brother Eric told WBKO, "I'll never be satisfied, I'll just learn to cope."

In a statement, Coy's family sent their sympathies to Jamie Stice's loved ones. Stice's relatives say they plan to focus their energy now on caring for her son, 10-month-old Isaiah, who's amazingly happy and healthy.

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