On a spring day in Iowa, the life of a young woman came to a tragic and violent end. Mercedes Wathen, a 25-year-old Caucasian female from Des Moines, was found deceased on April 2, 2018. Her body was discovered inside a residence at 8603 Warren Drive in Warren County, an area just south of the Des Moines city limits, after the sheriff's office received a 911 call reporting suspicious activity.
The nature of her death was immediately considered suspicious by authorities who arrived at the scene.
The investigation into her death quickly led to a person of interest. Jaquarious J'Ray Scoggins, an 18-year-old from Des Moines, was taken into custody shortly after Wathen's body was found. Initially, he was held on a material witness warrant, as well as a prior warrant for robbery. The ongoing investigation was a collaborative effort involving the Warren County Sheriff's Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the state and county medical examiners' offices.
As the investigation progressed, the tragic details of Mercedes Wathen's death became clearer. An autopsy revealed that she had died from a gunshot wound to the head. This confirmation intensified the focus on Scoggins, and on April 13, 2018, he was formally charged with first-degree murder in connection with Wathen's death. Law enforcement officials believed the incident was isolated to the residence where her body was discovered.
The legal proceedings that followed brought a resolution to the case. In January 2022, Jaquarious Scoggins pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. In April of that year, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the killing of Mercedes Wathen. Under the terms of his sentence, Scoggins will be required to serve a mandatory minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.
