Inset left: Joshua Penick (Greene County (Ind.) Sheriff’s Office/WTHI). Inset right: Samantha Lynn Jerrell, right, and her son Colton Alan, who were killed by Joshua Penick in October 2024 (Walton Funeral Services). Background: A road near Bear Run Mine in Greene County, Indiana.
An Indiana resident confessed to the brutal act of killing his former wife and their teenage son and burying them in shallow graves beside a coal mine, leading to a sentence of over a hundred years in prison.
Joshua Penick, aged 36, received a sentence of two 60-year terms for the murder of his ex-wife, Samantha Jerrell, also 36, and their 14-year-old son, Colton. The crimes occurred in October 2024, and Penick attempted to hide their remains near Bear Run Mine located in Sullivan County, roughly 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis and close to the Illinois state line.
Penick allegedly admitted to authorities, “I just put my hands around her neck and wouldn’t let go and buried them in the same grave.” This was reported by local NBC affiliate WTWO at the time of his arrest.
Concerns for the safety of the victims were raised by friends and family when they failed to attend school and work and couldn’t be contacted, according to WTWO. They were last seen on Sunday, October 13, 2024, and their bodies were found a few days later, on October 17, after cadaver dogs led police to them.
Witnesses reportedly said Penick had previously acted violently toward the victims.
The murderer apparently had left a letter for his family indicating that he did not expect to have much of a life, if any, after being found out.
Penick reportedly left a note saying, “Sorry I don’t know what is wrong with me and you all deserve better. I leave you three with my reminder life material items, any money I owe to you, and everything belongs to you,” and added, “Let go it’s okay now. Breathe, live, love, laugh, prosper.”
He also reportedly called his dad after killing his son and the mother of his child.
“S— went south, and I can’t talk about it on the phone,” he said, according to WTWO.
Court records show that Penick pleaded guilty in July to two counts of murder. As part of that plea, additional charges of obstruction of justice, battery against a public safety official, and resisting law enforcement were dropped.
In his sentencing order, Greene Circuit Court Judge Erik C. Allen laid out the crime in stark terms.
“Defendant killed his ex-wife and current significant other and his own child, and he made great effort to conceal his actions,” his sentencing order said.
The judge noted the deliberate nature of both murders.
“The time it took to strangle the life out of his 14-year-old son,” the judge observed, gave him “time to reflect and stop before killing him.”
“It was at a later time that he killed Samantha, and this gap in time and the method of strangling her to death with his own hands gave him time to reflect and stop before killing her,” the judge added.
Allen ordered that the sentences be served consecutively, or one after the other. Penick will receive a credit of 348 days for time served.
