PEARLAND, Texas Nicholas Michael Jean, the man who abducted and fatally shot a Pearland woman last summer, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jean was sentenced to life without parole Friday morning after several weeks of deliberation. He pleaded guilty to capital murder on May 26.
Jean abducted Susana de Jesus from a Pearland shopping center parking lot in February of 2009, shot her and left her body in a tractor-trailer near Reliant Stadium.
After his arrest, Jean reportedly told investigators he d targeted de Jesus because he wanted her Cadillac and her money a crime described by police as one of straight-up greed.
God bless her, I don t know how she ended up being the focus of this crook, said Capt. Chris Kincheloe of the Brazoria County Sheriff s Office said after de Jesus body was found last year. I don t know that she did anything wrong, I don t think so.
De Jesus was leaving her job at Catherine s Plus Sizes store on Smith Ranch Road when coworkers said she was kidnapped by an armed, masked man who forced her into her own car.
The masked suspect, later revealed to be Jean, was seen on security cameras withdrawing money from de Jesus account at an ATM several hours later.
Investigators believe he killed de Jesus the same night of the abduction.
OnStar later tracked the Cadillac to an apartment complex on West Airport. When authorities found the car, they said they found a gun inside it that was taken during a burglary in Brazoria County. They said they found Jean s fingerprints on that gun.
Once Jean was arrested, police said he told them where to find de Jesus body, but initially denied shooting her.
A second man, Wallace Ledet, was also charged in connection with the crime.
Investigators believe Ledet dropped Jean off at the shopping center before the abduction.
He has yet to go on trial.
