Coy charged with first-degree murder, shooting of Amazon driver

Charges upgraded from first degree assault after driver dies; shooting unknown until bullet head wound discovered

A Wentworth man who was originally charged with first degree assault now faces a charge of first-degree murder. The Lawrence County Prosecutor’s office upgraded the charge against Thomas Coy, 64, on Monday, Feb. 10.  The victim, whose name was reported to be Jasmine Sky Taylor, died of her injuries at Mercy Hospital Joplin on the night of Sunday, Feb. 9. Taylor was a driver for Amazon and was driving an Amazon van the night she died.
According to the probable cause statement, on Wednesday, Feb. 5, a witness called 911 and said that a vehicle being driven on Lawrence County 2152, west of Highway 97, went off the road and crashed into a fence.
Taylor, 23, was taken to Mercy Hospital in Joplin. About two hours after the accident was phoned in, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) received a call from the hospital that Taylor had a bullet wound, and that the bullet was lodged in her head.
The LCSO officer investigating the shooting reported that he reviewed the video of the crash, and stated that he saw the vehicle came up to the driveway of Coy’s residence, and that Taylor was slumped over in the driver’s seat.
The officer stated that he questioned Coy in a post-Miranda interview, and Coy admitted to shooting Taylor. He also reportedly said that he then took her out of the vehicle and put her in a ditch on the roadside. A motive for the shooting was not included in the probable cause statement.
Coy was originally charged with first degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of Taylor; in addition to the new charge of murder, he continues also to face the original charge of armed criminal action.
Online court records showed that Coy was arraigned on Monday, Feb. 10. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, March 6 for a preliminary hearing.