Background: Nicole Cunigan Jr. after his conviction for murder (WHIO). Insets from left: Precious Taste (Thomas Funeral Home) and Deante Johnson (WHIO).
An Ohio jury has found a 33-year-old guilty for the murder of his pregnant former girlfriend and a teenage boy, fueled by jealousy over her potential new relationship.
Nicole “Nico” Cunigan was convicted on 10 charges, including murder and felonious assault, in the killings of 32-year-old Precious Taste, her unborn baby, and 16-year-old Deante Johnson.
On the morning of May 22, 2024, Cunigan broke into Taste’s Dayton residence with her children present and fatally shot both Taste and Johnson, a family friend. Prosecutors detailed that Cunigan shot Taste while she attempted to flee down the stairs and Johnson was discovered deceased in bed beneath blankets, as reported by local CBS affiliate WHIO. Although an adult and Taste’s 4-year-old twins were also present, they remained unharmed.
The suspect went on the run until he was arrested some two months later in Cleveland.
Taste was four months pregnant during their relationship’s decline. Post-breakup, Cunigan became obsessively possessive, as stated by prosecutors, according to WHIO.
The now-convicted murderer sent a slew of texts to Taste that were threatening in nature.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Schoen highlighted a message during closing that read, “I’m watching your every movement. You better not touch anyone else.”
Johnson’s family was left devastated, especially since he had nothing to do with the beef between Cunigan and Taste.
“Why go after a 16-year-old that you didn’t even know?” his mother Jennifer Louis said in an interview with WHIO about two weeks after the shooting. “… People will never be the same anymore, we won’t. We can try to make it better, but we will never be the same.”
After the verdict, Taste’s mother had tears streaming down her face. She said she was happy she received justice, but it doesn’t bring her daughter back.
“The kids still don’t have a mother so it’s been very rough,” she told the TV station.
Cunigan is slated to be sentenced on Aug. 29.
