James Jones just wanted to buy a phone.
He found the one he was looking for on Craigslist and decided to meet with the potential seller.
But once Jones arrived at the meetup location, a Marietta home, three men — Jordan James Baker, Jonathon O’Neil Myles and Kalynn Shiquez Ruthenberg — robbed him, stole his shoes and fatally shot him.
On Friday, Baker and Myles pleaded guilty to armed robbery, robbery by force and two gang charges as part of a deal to avoid murder charges in the 2015 case, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Ruthenberg, an associate of the Crips gang, was sentenced to life plus 25 years in Jones’ murder in November. Baker and Myles, who were 18 and 19, respectively, at the time of the murder, testified against their accomplice in his trial.
Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office
Jones, a Daytona Beach, Fla., native, was a junior majoring in chemistry at Clark Atlanta University at the time of the attack three years ago.
Authorities say Baker, Myles and Ruthenberg posted the Craigslist ad, luring Jones to his death. When Jones arrived at the Jamaica Cove home, the three men stole his cellphone.
But they didn’t stop there.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Ruthenberg pulled out his .45-caliber gun and fired a shot at Jones. He then ordered Baker and Myles to steal Jones’ Nike shoes before firing one final fatal shot.
Baker and Myles were sentenced to 30 years with 20 to serve in prison and the remainder of the sentence on probation.
But that likely won’t soothe Jones’ family, whose loved one had hoped to be a doctor.
“My mother feels that 20 years from now, she still won’t have her son, and it’s not fair,” Jones’ brother, Samuel Heath, said in court. “It’s been a long three years … We never want anyone to experience this nightmare.”
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