Chastinea Reeves is a teen killer from Gary Indiana who would murder her mother Jamie Garnett
According to court documents Chastinea Reeves was fifteen years old and would stab her mother Jamie Garnett sixty times causing her death. After the discovery of Jamie Garnett police would issue an Amber Alert for Chastinea who was missing. Once the fifteen year old teen killer was found it soon became apparent that Chastinea was responsible for the murder
Chastinea Reeves would be arrested, plead guilty and sentenced to forty five years in prison
Chastinea Reeves Now
DOC Number | 237570 | |
First Name | CHASTINEA | |
Middle Name | T | |
Last Name | REEVES | |
Suffix | ||
Date of Birth | 09/2001 | |
Gender | Female | |
Race | Black | |
Facility/Location | Rockville Correctional Facility | |
Earliest Possible Release Date* * Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday are released on Monday. Incarcerated individuals scheduled for release on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday are released on Thursday. Incarcerated individuals whose release date falls on a Holiday are released on the first working day prior to the Holiday. | 06/15/2056 |
Chastinea Reeves Videos
Chastinea Reeves Case
The plea agreement for Chastinea Reeves was not sitting well with Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Boswell.
While Chastinea Reeves was accepting responsibility for her mother’s Feb. 13, 2017, murder, it wasn’t moving Boswell during her Wednesday sentencing. Boswell was also unmoved by the fact that Reeves, now 17, was 15 when she stabbed her mother, Jamie Garnett, 60 times at their Gary home.
Instead, Boswell — after both deputy prosecutor Maureen Koonce and defense attorney John Cantrell made their case that the plea agreement for one count of murder was fair — asked Reeves to tell her why she should accept it. Reeves hadn’t shown remorse throughout proceedings, Boswell said, so she needed Reeves to explain herself.
Chastinea Reeves stood silently at Cantrell’s side before she was allowed to sit.
“Why did you feel you had to do this to your mom?” Boswell asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Reeves said, barely audibly.
Boswell continued to press the girl.
“I cannot accept this plea, and you can go to trial and face up to 65 years,” Boswell said. “Help me understand why you did this. Your being young doesn’t impress me. You knew better. You knew better than this.”
After a moment, Reeves started to sob.
“If I could go back, I wouldn’t do it,” Reeves said. “I do miss my mother.”
Boswell reiterated that neither her age nor her accepting responsibility got her to a minimum sentence of 45 years. Cantrell stepped in, explaining that courts all over the country have abandoned life sentences for people convicted as children because “their mind isn’t developed” at the time of the crime.
“She’ll be in her 50s when she’s released, and that’s an incredible portion of her life,” Cantrell said.
Koonce added that Reeves’ sister, who was 3 at the time of the murder and is now 6, would be called to testify because she saw part of what happened.
“This is a very, very complex case, and there was much negotiation and discussion by all parties,” Koonce said. “I’d spoken to her grandmother about the sentence, and I could tell that it appeared she was very conflicted. We were very far apart (on what the plea agreement should’ve been).
Reeves’s grandmother, Rosemary Cruz, was initially reluctant to speak but took the stand.
“I miss my daughter. I miss her smile,” Cruz said, sobbing. “I don’t understand because (Reeves) was such a good kid. She was it. I don’t know what happened, but I feel she needs help.
“Something’s wrong. It’s like she just snapped. Oh, it’s very hard.”
After calling Koonce and Cantrell to the bench, Boswell ultimately sentenced Reeves to 45 years, with 1,015 days credit. Boswell then ordered a psychiatric evaluation and further continued treatment if warranted.
Cruz attended the hearing with her son, who yelled “I love you,” to Chastinea Reeves as she was taken out of court. She was relieved by Boswell’s request.
“I’m so glad the judge got help for her. She needs it,” Cruz said. “I’m going to be there for her because her mother would’ve wanted me to. I pray for (Reeves), and I think she realized what happened.”
Reeves was scheduled to go to trial June 3 in the death of Garnett, 34, who was found dead at her home in the 4400 block of West 23rd Place. Reeves was charged as an adult with murder in Lake Superior Court.
Rather than going to trial, Reeves decided to take a plea deal in which she agreed to plead guilty to murder and be sentenced to 45 years in prison, “with no alternative placement.”
Reeves’ sentence is at the low end for a murder charge, which ranges from 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years in prison, according to the deal.
The deal states, though, that Reeves will receive one day of credit for every three days served.
In addition to Reeves, two others, Matthew Martin, 18, and Virgil King, 19, also were charged as adults in connection with Garnett’s death.
Martin took a plea deal in December, agreeing to plead guilty to assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony, and battery with moderate injury, a level 6 felony.
Martin agreed to “cooperate fully, truthfully and completely” with prosecutors, including testifying at Reeves’ trial, the deal states.
Martin and King moved a Ford Escape on Feb. 13, 2017, that Reeves gave them the keys for, according to Martin’s plea deal.
Reeves had “what appeared to be blood on her clothing” and took “a knife out of her purse” that had “a broken tip and what appeared to be blood on it,” the deal states.
Reeves “smirked” and said, “I broke the tip off on that (expletive),” according to the deal.