JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A Joplin man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a woman who jilted him.
The Joplin Globe reports that jurors on Thursday found 39-year-old James Henneha guilty in the 2016 strangulation death of 38-year-old Tonya Crawford of Joplin.
Prosecutors argued that Henneha choked Crawford to death after she told him she no longer wanted him in her life.
Assistant prosecutor Kimberly Fisher described Henneha as a jealous man who wrote demeaning names for Crawford in graffiti on the walls of his home. Police allegedly found a note that read, “Tonya Crawford has left me for the last time.”
A forensic pathologist testified for the defense that her review of autopsy reports and other evidence indicated that Crawford died of hypertensive heart disease, not strangulation.
