Inset: Sean Couture (Waukesha County Jail). Background: Authorities responding to the home where Couture killed his grandmother (WITI).
A 25-year-old man in Wisconsin is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison after killing his 74-year-old grandmother. He shot her to prevent her from contacting the police when she discovered his firearm.
On Tuesday, Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Arthur Melvin III sentenced Sean C. Couture to serve 26 years to life in state prison for the 2024 murder of Nancy Lovejoy, according to court documents examined by Law&Crime.
Couture accepted a plea deal, admitting guilt to a single charge of first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic abuse enhancement. In return, additional charges, including non-compliance with a law enforcement officer and handling a firearm while intoxicated, were dropped. Judge Melvin acknowledged 388 days Couture had already spent in custody.
As noted in a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, officers from the Waukesha Police Department responded around 8:32 p.m. on August 25, 2024, to reports of gunfire in the 200 block of Douglass Avenue, located roughly 20 miles from Milwaukee.
The 911 call was made by Couture’s parents, who were on vacation out of state. They reported receiving a call from their son, saying “It’s over, it’s over,” claiming he had just shot his grandmother and intended to harm himself too.
When the police arrived, Couture had barricaded himself inside the house. Using a drone, they spotted what looked like the body of an adult female lying still on the basement stairs. A rescue team then waited until Couture entered a bedroom before entering the residence and retrieving the victim, identified as Lovejoy. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.
With the help of a K-9 unit, police were able to enter the home and detain Couture, who registered a blood alcohol content of 0.45, more than five times the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle. In the home, police recovered a handgun and multiple magazines as well as a receipt showing Couture had purchased the firearm on June 4, 2024.
At the hospital, Couture agreed to speak with police, asking about his grandmother and repeatedly “referencing her being shot despite officers only telling him, to that point, that his grandmother had been injured and died.”
Couture then admitted to shooting his grandmother, police said.
“The Defendant ultimately admitted that he and his grandmother began arguing the night of August 25, 2024 after she discovered the firearm in his room,” the affidavit said. “The Defendant stated he believed his grandmother was going to call the police about the Defendant having a gun and he shot her as she was just outside the side door to the residence. The Defendant then admitted to dragging [the victim’s] body inside the residence onto the basement stairs where she was found because he didn’t want to leave her body outside.”
Couture also admitted to drinking alcohol before and after the shooting.
