On a tragic day in March of 2015, the life of 21-year-old Jamila Monet Vigier-Cage was cut short in Troy, Michigan. A recent resident of Auburn Hills and a student at Wayne State University, she was a young mother to her son, Josiah Santino Mullen. Her friends and family remember her as a creative, inspiring, and caring individual with a passion for volleyball, writing, music, and a clothing line she had started with her best friend.
On the evening of Saturday, March 7, 2015, a coworker
discovered Jamila unresponsive in the driver's seat of her car in the parking lot of One Source Talent, her place of employment. She had been fatally shot multiple times in the head and upper body. The investigation quickly turned towards her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child, 24-year-old Cory Daniel Mullen of Clinton Township. The day after the discovery of Jamila's body, Mullen was located and apprehended by police in Detroit near the MGM Casino.
Cory Mullen was subsequently charged with first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. During the legal proceedings that followed, Mullen's competency to stand trial became a central issue, leading to multiple psychiatric evaluations. His defense team argued for an insanity defense. At trial, testimony revealed that Jamila had been in an abusive relationship with Mullen and was attempting to leave him. Mullen admitted to being in the passenger seat of the car when Jamila was shot and to bringing the gun into the vehicle. He claimed, however, that he had intended to take his own life and that Jamila was accidentally shot when she tried to take the gun from him. He then stated that in his distress, he shot her an additional five times. After the shooting, he fled the scene without seeking any help for her.
Ultimately, a jury convicted Cory Daniel Mullen of first-degree premeditated murder and felony-firearm. On November 8, 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison. An appeal of his conviction was later denied by the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2019, affirming the jury's verdict and ensuring that he would serve his life sentence for the murder of Jamila Monet Vigier-Cage.
