A Central Kentucky bus driver, 68, died in 2010. Her attacker got punished Thursday.
Nearly nine years after a 68-year-old retired Scott County bus driver died, the former Lexington man accused of robbing and killing her pleaded guilty.
Nicholas Willinger, 34, entered an Alford plea Thursday to charges of murder, robbery and burglary in the slaying of Glenda Sue Jones. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence but agrees there is enough evidence for a conviction.
He could have faced the death penalty had the case gone to trial. Willinger “knows that it was in his best interest because of the ramifications of a trial to enter this plea,” said defense attorney Sandra Downs.
Scott Circuit Judge Brian Privett sentenced Willinger to 20 years, with credit for the nearly five years he has been in jail since he was indicted in 2014.
Gail Jones, a daughter of Glenda Sue Jones, read a statement in court. Part of her comments was directed to Willinger.
“I know you’re not sorry for what you’ve done,” Jones said. “You’re sorry for being caught.”
Bobbie Sue Craig, a granddaughter of Jones, also read a statement in court. Craig said Sue Jones made her soup when she was sick, walked down the aisle with her at her wedding, and brought comfort to her when she was sad. “She was written out of my life due to the will of another person,” Craig said.
Willinger is already serving a separate federal sentence in Tucson, Ariz., on a charge of receiving child porn; his scheduled release date isn’t until 2030. But he was brought back to Kentucky this week so he could enter the Alford plea in Scott Circuit Court.
Jones was found dead in her house near Sadieville on Feb. 4, 2010. She died of blunt force trauma to the head. The indictment said Willinger broke into her home and attacked her.
In 2016, prosecutors informed Willinger’s defense that Kentucky State Police had lost a binder containing reports from the lead investigating detective. But a Scott Circuit judge denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against Willinger.
Willinger was briefly released with an ankle monitor but was then arrested again in early 2018 on the federal child-porn indictment.
In addition to Willinger, Ciji L. Jefferson, 33, pleaded guilty in 2015 to complicity to second-degree burglary in the Jones robbery and slaying. She has not been sentenced but that could happen before the end of the year.
The indictment against Jefferson said she told Willinger that Jones had a large amount of money in her home on Double Culvert Road and that Jones wouldn’t be home on a particular date.
Jefferson accompanied Willinger to the Jones house, and, intending to share in the proceeds of the burglary, waited outside in a vehicle while Willinger went inside.
As for Willinger, Gail Jones said she hopes that he “realizes how much wrong he did and gets down on this knees and prays for forgiveness.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 3:38 PM.