Kriti Mehrotra
When Jocelyn Delores Peters and her unborn child were found heinously killed inside her St. Louis, Missouri, home on March 24, 2016, it left the entire community in a state of shock. As profiled in CBS’ ’48 Hours: Jocelyn Peters and the Notebook,’ what followed was the recovery of unusual evidence from the scene that pointed towards depravity as well as premeditation. It thus took authorities a while to uncover the truth, yet the matter was brought to a satisfactory close in 2024 as sentences appropriate for murder-for-hire convictions were handed down.
Jocelyn Peters Was Shot to Death When 31 Weeks Pregnant
Born on January 7, 1986, into an incredibly affectionate, loving, and supportive household helmed by beloved matriarch Lacey Eileen Peters, Jocelyn Peter grew up knowing who she is. The importance of education as well as qualities like kindness had been ingrained in her from an early age, so it was while she was still young that she realized she wanted to be a teacher. According to records, she subsequently received such unwavering backing from her mother, her sister Asia, and her brothers Antwoine as well as Antonio, that she felt unafraid to spread her wings.
Jocelyn worked hard to achieve her goals, so she was over the moon by the time 2016 rolled around as she was proudly serving as a 3rd grade educator at Horace Mann Elementary School. As per all accounts, she was not just a teacher but someone who genuinely cared about the next generation of our world, so she often went above and beyond to create magic for them. She did so in the classroom through her unique approach of lessons and outside by advocating for creative courses, organizing a wildly successful book donation drive, and much more.
Jocelyn was also extremely content with her personal life by early 2016, as she had been involved with fellow educator Cornelius Green for quite a while and was even expecting a baby with him. However, everything turned upside down on March 24, as the latter found his 31-week pregnant girlfriend dead inside her home on the 4,200 block of West Pine Boulevard in St. Louis. The 30-year-old had been shot once in the eye while she was on her bed, preparing invitations for her upcoming baby shower – she already knew she was having a girl, named Micah Leigh.
Jocelyn Peters Was Targeted in a Murder-for-Hire Plot by Someone She Trusted Most
From the moment Cornelius dialed 911 to report he had found his partner dead inside her home, it was evident Jocelyn’s case was a homicide, as he was able to specify that she had been shot. Therefore, upon arrival, first responders almost immediately secured the scene before asking him if he would come to the local station to answer some questions, to which he willingly agreed. While some officials spoke with him about their romance and how he found her, others were either contacting her family members or going through the crime scene in detail, as per protocol.
That’s when it came to light that there were no signs of forced entry into Jocelyn’s home, and strangely, organic matter was splattered all across. It was forensic testing that later confirmed the matter came from a potato because the vegetable had been used as a silencer on the murder weapon. As for Cornelius, he claimed to have an alibi, alleging he’d been in Chicago, Illinois, for work for a few days leading up to the brutal murder. The Carr Lane Visual & Performing Arts Middle School Principal then stated he had returned that day itself, and a friend had picked him up.
The friend was soon identified as Phillip Cutler, who was detained for questioning that same night owing to how severe the matter was. The initial intention was to just ask him some standard questions to possibly verify Cornelius’ alibi, but things changed due to his strange behavior. According to records, he had been left alone in the interrogation room for a few minutes after being told the officials were looking into a homicide case, just for him to then start pacing, take out a notebook from his back pocket, and tear and eat two pages from it. When looked into further, it came to light that he was hiding the fact that he had been hired to kill Jocelyn and Micah by Cornelius for $2,500.
Jocelyn Peters Homicide Was Concocted and Carried Out in Detail
When investigators began looking into Cornelius and Phillip, it came to light that the latter was actually a resident of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and had arrived in the city on March 21, 2016. However, phone records proved that the two friends had been planning to kill a very pregnant Jocelyn for quite a while, for which the principal had even stolen $2,700 from the dance team’s fundraiser at the school where he worked. They planned everything in a series of calls before a UPS package containing $2,500 cash was shipped to Phillip on March 7, 2016.
The motive was the fact that Cornelius did not want to have a child with Jocelyn, as he was not only married but also had several other lovers, the educator had no idea about. According to records, she had miscarried once before and terminated another pregnancy at her boyfriend’s behest, but she wanted to happily welcome Micah Leigh into this world. He was not on board, so he allegedly tried to secretly poison the baby by crushing some pills into the mother’s oatmeal or yogurt, but when that didn’t pan out, he decided to go further.
According to police records, Cornelius gave Phillip the keys to his vehicle and Jocelyn’s apartment once he arrived in the city before leaving for Chicago himself to create an alibi. He only booked his return train after he got a message from his friend that the job was done, following which he contacted his girlfriend’s mother to see if she could “check on her” as she wasn’t responding. As per records, he went there himself after learning her mother was unavailable, but that was not his initial plan. In other words, he wanted Jocelyn’s mother to find her remains and report her death so that he could seem as far away from the crime as possible.
Cornelius Green and Phillip Cutler Are Serving Their Sentences in Federal Prison Today
It was in June 2016 when Phillip was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in connection with the death of Jocelyn and her unborn child. A couple of months later, Cornelius was arrested for stealing $2,700 from his place of work, which led to the entire murder-for-hire conspiracy coming to light. Therefore, in October of the same year, he was charged with the same, in addition to three counts of receiving stolen property. According to reports, both he and Phillip initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, resulting in several pre-trial hearings and then delays owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case eventually made its way to federal court, which is where Cornelius pleaded guilty on February 28, 2024, to one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. By doing so, the state charges against him were dismissed, and the death penalty was taken off the table. Around a month later, in March, Phillip was found guilty of the charges against him following a trial, for which he was eventually sentenced to two consecutive life terms. On June 25, 2024, a week after Phillip’s sentencing hearing, Cornelius was handed down the same term. Therefore, today, at the age of 44, the latter is incarcerated at the high-security United States Penitentiary-Hazelton in West Virginia. On the other hand, at age 48, Phillip is detained at the high-security United States Penitentiary-Beaumont in Jefferson County, Texas. They are both expected to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives.
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