Mother, son sentenced for Naperville robbery, murder
A mother and son have been sentenced to prison on charges they robbed and murdered a Naperville man and hid his body in a trash container for six months.
Ernest Collins, 28, of Rockford, was sentenced Wednesday to 70 years for murder and 28 years for armed robbery.
Candice Jones, 44, of Chicago, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years for murder and 21 years for armed robbery.
The two were charged with killing 20-year-old Michael Armendariz.
On Jan. 18, 2018, Armendariz was reported missing. He had last been seen the evening of Jan. 14 getting into a green Ford Explorer.
Authorities said Collins, Jones and a third defendant, Cassandra Green, of Rockford, had schemed to rob Armendariz. Green was Collins’ girlfriend and was friends with Armendariz.
A prosecutor said during Jones’ trial that the trio decided to rob him because he had displayed money and drugs in a Facebook post.
Green sent Armendariz a Snapchat message and drove herself and Collins to an apartment complex in Naperville. Armendariz got into the Ford Explorer.
A few minutes later, Collins, who had been hiding in the back beneath a blanket, shot Armendariz in the back of the head.
The duo took Armendariz’s body to Jones’ residence in Chicago, put it in a trash container and put the container in her garage. Later, the container was moved to the garage of a vacant house next door.
The next day, Collins and Green took Armendariz’s apartment keys and burglarized his apartment.
His body was discovered in July 2018 when Jones called 311 to report a foul odor. The three were arrested in February 2019. At Jones’ bond hearing, a prosecutor said Jones told police she made the call to free Armendariz’s soul.
“Working together, Ernest Collins, Candice Jones and Cassandra Green devised an evil, heartless plot to rob and kill Michael Armendariz,” Berlin said. “Once this scheme was put into motion, Michael never stood a chance, as he was ambushed and shot twice in the back of his head in a cold-blooded execution.”
Green pleaded guilty to armed robbery with a firearm in November 2022, in exchange for testifying against Collins and Jones. She was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
A jury found Collins guilty on Sept. 29, 2023. A different jury found Jones guilty on Oct. 27, 2023.