Latoya gay

Coles’ murder was believed to have happened on March 12.

Martre Lamonte Coles, Denise Monique Gay and Latoya Shantice Gay

Prosecutors say Denise Gay led a calculated plot to kill Coles, her boyfriend’s son, with the help of her daughter LaToya. She didn’t rub me the right way when I met her,” Michelle Coles, Martre’s sister, said on Snapped.

But detectives soon realized the emails Martre was receiving were fake.

“Someone went through a lot of trouble to make it look like Martre had gone on a trip to Florida for school,” Burkett said.

A 12-year-old witness describes Martre Coles' murder to police

Soon after Martre Coles’ body was discovered on April 2, two officers remembered a call to which they had responded at the Coles’ home just three days earlier.

Prosecutors said for months prior to Coles’ death, Denise Gay searched online for terms: “find something that works like chloroform” and “how long it takes to suffocate someone with duct tape.”

A medical examiner testified that Coles was found with Trazodone, a sedative and antidepressant most commonly used to treat depression. “The woman that he had brought into his home, and he thought cared for him and his family had actually killed his son.”

Maurice Coles offered Denise’s purse, with her wallet and cell phone inside.

Knees tucked to the chest,” prosecutor Shannon Taylor said on Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.

Coles, who had been reported missing on March 13, 2017 by his sisters, had his wrists bound with tape, and there was a powder covering his body. He was 16, and the death left him grieving with his widowed father, Maurice, with his older sisters already moved out of the house.

An autopsy revealed the presence of Trazodone, a sedative and antidepressant most commonly used to treat depression, which led the investigators to believe he was drugged and suffocated.

The police intercepted text messages between Denise and her daughter LaToya when they discussed moving the body and burying it properly.

The night of April 7, the camera picked up a parked black SUV and someone wearing a hoodie. Denise Gay was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years.

“Denise was just pure evil,” Marqweisha Coles said. Anyone with information on the others involved is asked to contact Tampa Police by calling (813) 231-6130 or share a tip via Tip411, which is accessible through the TampaPD app.

Mother and daughter sentenced for roles in killing of teen found in storage container

RICHMOND, Va.

-- A Henrico County mother and daughter have been sentenced for their roles in the 2017 murder of 19-year-old Martre Lamonte Coles.

Denise Gay, 49, was sentenced to life in prison, while her daughter, LaToya Gay, 23, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in connection to the killing.

LaToya was sentenced to 20 years for first-degree murder and 10 years for conspiracy to commit murder.

Coles, a Highland Springs High School graduate, was found April 2, 2017 in a plastic storage container stashed behind an electrical box in eastern Henrico.

The girl told investigators she overheard Martre shouting, “Get off me,” and then saw LaToya dragging a green bin through the house.

It is unclear why she wanted the 19-year-old Martre dead, but the prosecution speculated she may have thought the murder would bring her closer to the victim’s father. “The only one who could possibly know where that body was located was the killer.”

One officer had a motion-activated hunting camera with him, so he attached it to a tree, hoping to catch any suspicious people on video.

Anyone with information on the others involved is asked to contact Tampa Police

Gay’s family says that the complex, Silver Oaks Apartments, lacked the appropriate security at the time of her death.

The young mother had been visiting a friend when the gunfire broke out in the parking lot.

When asked by LaToya’s lawyer, James Bullard, if she was sad Martre was dead, she replied, “No.”

However, the jury was not convinced and convicted both Denise Gay and LaToya Gay of first-degree murder.

Police checked the security footage of Maurice Coles and Denise Gay’s workplace on April 7, and saw footage of her leaving work, getting in his black SUV, and driving away. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, to see my children breaking down,” said Howard.

Leaning on each other today, the family announced the lawsuit filed against the companies that run the apartment complex, saying security was severely lacking at the time of Gay’s death, making it easy for the suspects to get onto the property.

“They allowed criminals to feel safer than citizens at Silver Oaks, and they are responsible for the generational devastation that tortures this family,” said Haggard Law Firm Attorney Adam Finkel.

Gay’s family is calling for change at this complex, along with other apartment complexes across the city.

They are also asking the public to come forward and help police find the people involved in Gay’s shooting.

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to the attorney representing the companies that run Silver Oaks Apartments to find more information on security measures there and reaction to the filing of this lawsuit, and have not heard back.

One person, a juvenile, has been arrested in Gay’s shooting.

Martre, a teenage art student, was reported missing in April 2017.