A Rhode Island Man Has Been Found Guilty Of Murdering Young Mom Jassy Correia

On June 1, 2022, Louis Coleman III, 36, was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Jassy Correia. On Oct. 11, 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2019, Jassy Correia, a mother of a 2-year-old daughter, was finishing up celebrations for her 23rd birthday with friends. She was last seen walking out of the Venu Nightclub on Warrenton Street in Boston.

Coleman, a man from Providence, Rhode Island, was seen on surveillance footage with Correia shortly after she left the nightclub.

Coleman lured Correia into his car with the promise of a ride back to her friend’s apartment from the nightclub, WCVB reported. Instead, he sexually assaulted the young woman and strangled her to death, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Richardson said in his closing statements in the case. He said, “She was tricked into going with him and getting into the car. That was not valid consent.”

Surveillance footage was presented at trial that first showed Coleman and Correia departing the club and getting into Coleman’s car. According to WPRI, Coleman is later seen on different surveillance footage dragging a “body with long hair and orange pants” that was “naked from the waist up” into his Providence apartment.

Only a few days later, on Feb. 28, 2019, Coleman was taken into police custody after he was stopped along Interstate 95 South near Wilmington, Delaware, after he was first publicly named as a suspect. When they pulled him over, police officers found Correia's body in the trunk.

An autopsy later showed that “Correia died of strangulation and suffered blunt force injuries to the head, torso, upper body, and neck,” WPRI reported.

"Louis D. Coleman III was found guilty by a jury of tricking Jassy into believing that he was going to give her a ride back to her friend's apartment, and, instead, holding her against her will, sexually assaulting her, strangling her to death,” stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy.

Correia’s brother Joel Correia said, “As soon as they say he's guilty, we all stand up and scream. For the win of justice.”