Jasmine Sky Taylor

Jasmine Sky Taylor, a 23-year-old White woman from Joplin, Missouri, was known for her love of the outdoors, fishing, and spending time at the lake with family and friends. A graduate of Rogers High School, she enjoyed her job as a delivery driver for Amazon and adored her two dogs, Titan and Kahos. Her life was full of promise and shared with her fiancé, Brandon Combs.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 5, 2025, Jasmine was working her delivery route in a rural area of Wentworth. A witness called 911 to report what appeared to be a single-vehicle accident, after her Amazon van veered off Lawrence County Road 2152 and crashed into a fence. First responders took her to Mercy Hospital in Joplin, where the true nature of the incident was uncovered. Nearly two hours after the crash, medical staff discovered that Jasmine had not been in a simple accident; she had a bullet wound, and a projectile was lodged in her head. She fought for her life for four days, but succumbed to her injuries on Sunday, February 9, 2025, surrounded by her family.

The investigation quickly shifted from an accident to a homicide. Detectives from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office reviewed footage from a camera inside Jasmine’s delivery van. The video showed her driving near a residence when she suddenly slumped over in the driver’s seat. The home was identified as belonging to Thomas Coy, a 64-year-old man. When investigators questioned Coy, he confessed to the shooting.

In a post-Miranda interview, Coy admitted that he had seen the Amazon van on the road, gone back into his house to get a high-powered pellet rifle, and returned outside to wait for the van to come back. As Jasmine approached his driveway, he shot her in the head. Coy told investigators he then watched the van crash into the fence. He admitted to walking over to the wrecked vehicle, pulling Jasmine from the driver’s seat, and leaving her in a roadside ditch before authorities arrived. A motive was established by law enforcement but was never publicly disclosed, though robbery was ruled out.

Thomas Coy was arrested and initially charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Following Jasmine’s death, the charges were upgraded on February 10, 2025, to first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was held in the Lawrence County Jail.

In September 2026, Thomas Coy pleaded guilty to the amended charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Two months later, in November 2026, a judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison. The sentence consisted of 30 years for second-degree murder, to be followed by a consecutive 10-year sentence for armed criminal action.