NORFOLK, Va. — A man was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison for killing his girlfriend back in July 2018.
Police found 48-year-old Cassandra T. Saunders dead around 12:30 p.m. on July 15, 2018, at the Ramada Inn, located at 515 North Military Highway in Norfolk. Her death was originally classified as "undetermined."
A medical examiner in November 2018 ruled that she had been killed.
Jeffery Jenkins, 50, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the conviction of Second Degree Murder. He pleaded guilty to the charge on October 30, 2019.
According to court documents, back in February 2018, Cassandra Saunders told a Norfolk Detective her boyfriend, Jeffery Jenkins, choked her several times during an argument.
He allegedly choked her so hard she passed out each time and threw up on herself.
Five months later, court documents said police found Saunders dead face down in a hotel bathtub covered with a towel off Military Highway. Detectives said the tub was filled with water that drained out before they found her body.
Paperwork filed in the courts, Saunders checked into the hotel with Jenkins the night before. A search warrant affidavit explained on a security camera, Jenkins can be seen leaving the room early in the morning closing the hotel door with a white napkin. Detectives said no one else entered the room until the housekeeper went in just after noon.
