Inset left: Thomas Coy (Lawrence County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Jasmine Taylor (Obituary). Background: The rural road where Coy shot and killed Taylor in Lawrence County, Mo. (Google Maps).
A Missouri man is headed to prison for shooting an Amazon delivery driver as she passed him, then dragging her out of the truck and into a ditch, where he shot her in the head.
Thomas Coy, 65, was sentenced to 40 years behind bars in the death of 23-year-old Jasmine Taylor, court records say. In September, he pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
The violence took place on Feb. 5, 2025, on Lawrence County Road 2152, about 40 miles west of Springfield.
That day, an Amazon truck was seen crashing into a fence around 4 p.m., according to a probable cause statement issued by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and obtained by Springfield-based CBS affiliate KOLR and Osage Beach-based Fox affiliate KRBK, which collectively broadcast as Ozarks First.
Taylor was behind the wheel of the crashed vehicle. In video provided by Amazon to law enforcement, she is seen slumped over in the driver’s seat as the truck travels up to a driveway.
When questioned by investigators, the defendant confessed and added several details about the fatal violence.
“We have determined that, in fact, Mr. Coy saw the Amazon driver going down the road,” Lawrence County Sheriff Chris Berry said. “He then retreated back to his home, got his weapon, came back up and waited for the Amazon driver to come back by. And then that’s when he shot them.”
After that, Coy removed Taylor from the vehicle, dragged her along the road and left the still-breathing woman in a ditch.
The victim had been shot in the head with a pellet rifle, though at first authorities did not realize she had been shot, according to a report by Joplin-based radio station KZRG. She was taken to Mercy Hospital Joplin where doctors, hours later, told law enforcement about the projectile in the woman’s head.
Taylor died on Feb. 9, 2025.
Coy was charged the next day. He was initially arrested for assault, and the charge was then upgraded to first-degree murder.
“It’s just really sad because there is no sense to what occurred whatsoever,” the sheriff said at the time. “It’s very emotional because of the senselessness of what occurred. It just makes no sense why someone could be so angry to do something like this.”
Authorities hinted at a likely motive but kept mum about the specific reason for the violence.
“We have a motive, but we’re not going to talk about it just yet,” Berry told Ozarks First.
Neighbors who spoke with KZRG said Coy had often complained about the speed of delivery vehicles on the county road.
“It’s very scary, certainly,” the sheriff added. “And it’s very, very different. They did not know each other at all. He saw the person going down the road, retreats to his place of residence, retrieved the pellet rifle and then waited for them to come back.”
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this story
