ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Prosecutors have released a recorded confession of a St. Johns County woman convicted of stabbing to death a Fruit Cove man she met on Craigslist in his home in 2011.
A jury convicted 26-year-old Latoya Jordan on Friday in the murder of 53-year-old Daniel Somerson in July 2011. After Jordan killed him, she lived in his home for weeks while his body decayed until she could find another place to live.
Following her conviction, she was immediately sentenced to life in prison.
During the trial, prosecutors played her confession, in which she said she snapped and stabbed Somerson multiple times over anger related to their living situation.
"I just had enough," she said. "It wasn't so much -- it was him, but it was all the stress I have been going through, and I am not going to lie; I snapped. I snapped."
"I think I walked through, walked around his house as he was sleeping, you know, to calm myself down, but you know, I never felt, I felt anger before, where I just want to hurt somebody so bad, but I never really act on it, you know. I never really act on it to that full extent."
In gruesome detail, Jordan described how she killed Somerson in Fruit Cove and tried to hide his body.
"It was, um, decomposing, his body was decomposing and so I put another blanket over him um a comforter, a white comforter and I had put some other stuff over it to keep the odor away and also put perfume, not perfume, cologne, some cologne to and I think some laundry detergent to make the smell just stop and I turned the air conditioning on low too," explained Jordan. "I wasn't, you know, I didn't have any knowledge on how to stop the, well not stop it but keep away the smell."
Investigators said Jordan met Somerson on Craigslist, and they struck up a relationship.
On the website, Jordan and Somerson posted things like, "short girl looking to get to know a cool guy," "seeking life partner/wife," and "two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one."
Jordan met up with Somerson in Virginia and later moved in with him in May 2011.
Somerson's body was found July 8, 2011.
Investigators said Jordan went on to find another man to live with, again through Craigslist, until detectives tracked her down about two weeks later.
"I was remorseful at first. I cried a little bit but it was more for my mom, I cried over my mom first because I'm like if she was alive I probably wouldn't be going through this crap," said Jordan. "I cried over that, um, and I think I did cry because I was like why are you, you know that pity cry, why did you have to be like this for a little while and then I got over it and then it was just numb after that. All I could think about was what do I do next?"
This is the second killing in the Jacksonville area in the past few years related to Craigslist. The other was similar when David Sparre was convicted for the murder of 21-year-old Tiara Poole in her Hodges Boulevard apartment. Poole and Sparre met on craigslist, Sparre stabbed Poole 89 times, killing her. Latoya Jordan's case she used a knife too, in the violent attack that killed Somerson.
"Okay blood was everywhere, on the counters, I didn't realize how much blood it was until I walked in after he died I was like what the hell, I didn't even feel the blood or anything on me because I was like," said Jordan.
Jordan was arrested in Panama City days after Somerson's body was found in a well-being check in his home on Popolee Road. She was brought back to St. Johns County to face first-degree murder charges.
Investigators said Jordan stole Somerson's cellphone when she left Fruit Cove, and they used it to find her in the Panhandle.