Remaining Egypt Covington murder suspects sentenced to prison more than 6 years after crime
Shandon Groom (left) and Timothy Moore (right) during their sentencing on Oct. 5, 2023
VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - The two remaining suspects charged with murdering Egypt Covington in her Van Buren Township home in 2017 are headed to prison.
Shandon Groom was sentenced to 17-26 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He will get credit for the 1,117 days he has already served in jail.
Timothy Moore was sentenced to 20-55 years after a second-degree murder plea. That sentence will be served consecutively with a two-year sentence for a felony firearms charge. He received 1,064 days credit for time served.
Both men were scheduled to go to trial in July but took plea deals days before it was to begin. Thursday's sentencing was briefly interrupted when Moore said he felt forced into pleading when he shouldn't have.
After a short recess spurred by concerns he was coerced into taking a plea deal, Moore and his attorney said his concerns were with alleged untrue statements his codefendants made about the crime.
Judge Wanda Evans said she could withdraw his plea and allow the case to go to trial, but Moore declined and was sentenced.
Because of the pleas, charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree home invasion, and felony firearm were dismissed against Groom and Moore.
A third suspect, Shane Evans is currently in prison after pleading guilty to the same charge. He was sentenced to 15-25 years in May.
As part of his plea, Evans was going to testify against Groom and Moore at trial.
What happened
According to previous court testimony from Evans, the men were hanging out in June 2017 when they decided they wanted to steal weed from Covington's neighbor, who was out of town. The men drove to the duplex in Van Buren Township and Evans said he pointed out which door was the correct one before driving away.
However, Groom and Moore entered the wrong door and instead went inside Covington's home and found her watching a movie. When they saw her, they shot her to death and allegedly wrapped her in Christmas lights.
Egypt Covington’s accused killers targeted wrong house, meant to steal marijuana from neighbor
According to court testimony, the men accused of killing Egypt Covington mistakenly broke into her home while trying to steal weed from a neighbor.
After the murder, Van Buren police began investigating, but a break in the case wouldn't come until Michigan State Police took over the investigation in August 2020.
Evans and Moore were arrested in November 2020, more than three years after Covington's death. Groom was taken into custody in December 2020.
Cell phone records and GPS locations were used to place Evans, Moore, and Groom at the scene of the crime.
Prosecutors said the men also stole Covington’s cell phone, which pinged to the same location as their phones before they threw it away.
All three men were bound over for trial in 2021.
MSP said there was a fourth suspect, but they were shot and killed after the crime.
Family of Egypt Covington relieved after guilty pleas
All three of the people suspected in the death of a Van Buren Township woman have pled guilty to second-degree homicide. Michigan State Police, who took over the case in 2020 after local police investigated the death of Egypt Covington, say Timothy Moore and Shandon Groom of Toledo, Ohio, and Shane Evans of Sumpter Township had all pled guilty.