A Michigan mother and her son will stand trial on upgraded charges in the death of his girlfriend, 17-year-old London Thomas.
Jalen Pendergrass, and his mother, 49-year-old Charla Pendergrass, have now been charged with first degree murder in Thomas’s death after a 4-hour preliminary hearing on Thursday, WXYZ reported.
Thomas was last seen April 5 at Jalen Pendergrass’s Carlysle Street home near Inkster Road, as CrimeOnline reported. Police later searched the home, assisted by the FBI.
Three weeks later, Thomas’ body was found in a plastic bin in an SUV after receiving information from a friend of Charla Pendergrass that she had asked him on April 7 to “transport a sealed plastic bin with unknown contents,” prosecutors said.
Police conducted a search on April 26 and found Thomas’s body. An autopsy determined that she died from asphyxia and the manner of death was homicide.
The Pendergrasses were charged in October with second degree murder.
A former girlfriend of Pendergrass, Lanyja Wilkerson, testified on Thursday that he sent her a very specific song lyric by rapper NBZ Youngboy after Thomas’s disappearance.
“Put the b**** up in the trunk, her family will never see her again,” Wilkerson said, recounting the lyrics.
Wilkerson further testified that her ex-boyfriend confessed what happened on April 5, telling her two different stories. In the first story, Pendergrass said that Thomas and his mother got into a fight and then he beat Thomas and tired up her up. Then, Wilkerson said, Pendergrass told her his mother told him to “get angry” and “to kill her.”
Wilkerson also testified that Jalen Pendergrass later confessed to her about the night of April 5. She said he told her two different stories, and in the first story he said Thomas and his mother got into a physical fight at his home, after which he beat Thomas and tied her up.
He told me that he pulled her out the bed, he stood her up, grabbed a belt and choked her until she fell,” she said.
After the hearing, Thomas’s mother, Jasma Bennett, called the upgraded charges “one small step toward justice for London and our family.”
The Pendergrasses will now be tried on the new charges.
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[Featured image: Jalen Pendergrass/Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and Charla Pendergrass/Detroit Police Department]
