A mother and son have each been sentenced to decades in prison after conspiring to murder the man’s pregnant girlfriend.
In February, 49-year-old Windy Marie Weatherford and 25-year-old Deondre Dawayne McLilly were both found guilty of the murder of Alicia Jackson-Skaggs, who was McLilly’s ex-girlfriend. According to the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office, McLilly had a pattern of stalking, abuse, and harassment against Jackson-Skaggs.
Weatherford drove McLilly to a Culver’s to find Jackson-Skaggs, who was parked outside in a black sedan with other acquaintances. When she noticed Weatherford and McLilly, she tried to escape, but Weatherford used her SUV to block her in, and give McLilly the ability to shoot into her sedan, which he did. After shooting into the car from the SUV, whoever was driving the sedan fled, with the SUV – driven by Weatherford – aggressively chasing it. They ended up at a Golden Corral, where McLilly exited the SUV and walked to the sedan, where he fired more shots.
Jackson-Skaggs was shot twice in the head, and died. She was just 20 years old, and pregnant.
McLilly was found guilty on 26 counts, and sentenced to a minimum of 39 years and a maximum of 102 years in prison, while Weatherford was found guilty on 19 counts, and sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison and a maximum of 102 years in prison.
During sentencing, Juanita Skaggs gave emotional testimony about the loss of her daughter. “Every morning when I open my eyes, I realize she is gone and she is never coming back,” she said. “She was my little buddy. Everything we did together – every day we felt less of her.”
Genesee County Court Judge Mark W. Latchana was harsh in his assessment of the pair, but of Weatherford in particular. “You forfeit the right to be a parent because you didn’t parent him. Maybe if you’d done a better job, he wouldn’t become the violent, manipulative abuser that he turned into, and maybe this young lady would be alive,” he said, reacting particularly strongly as Weatherford shook her head in response. “Don’t you shake your head. You had your opportunity to speak. Now sit there and listen.”
Latchana said that Weatherford had plenty of opportunities to prevent the murders of Jackson-Skaggs and her preborn child. Ultimately, he said he wished he could sentence them to more time, saying, “You can rest assured that if I were left unfettered, the sentence would be every day for the rest of your life without the possibility of parole.”
Editor’s Note: If you are a victim of domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline, or call 1-800-799-SAFE.
