A Missouri woman has been sentenced to serve a decade in prison for her involvement in a 2016 robbery at a Jackson pawn shop in which three people were killed.
According to court documents, 42-year-old Jamison Layne Townsend and her co-defendant, Joshua Michael Garcia, went to Bill’s Coin & Jewelry on December 17, 2016, to rob the business.
During the robbery, Garcia shot and killed the owner and two co-workers. Townsend and Garcia emptied the display cases of watches, rings, necklaces, bracelets, coins, and other items. Later that day, they entered a pawn shop in Mobile, Ala., and pawned five items that were stolen from Bill’s earlier that day.
On December 19, 2016, a trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol attempted to stop Townsend and Garcia, who were traveling in a red Dodge Charger on Interstate 24. A chase ensued and the two suspects escaped at a high rate of speed.
Two days later, both were arrested in Geary County, Kan. Officers searched the vehicle and found numerous items that were stolen from Bill’s, including coins, watches, trays of jewelry, and many items that still contained the sales tags from Bill’s.
Additionally, officers recovered four firearms, including a Les Baer .45 caliber handgun that was determined to be the murder weapon by the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory. Ammunition, a cell phone, and numerous items of clothing were also recovered from the Dodge Charger.
Townsend pled guilty on September 18, 2023, to three counts of accessory after the fact. Joshua Michael Garcia had previously pled guilty to discharging a firearm that resulted in the murder of three persons during the commission of a robbery. He was sentenced to three life sentences.
