Tonica Jenkins
Tonica Jenkins (born 1975) is an American convicted criminal who first gained notoriety in 1997 for using forged documents to gain admission to Yale University's graduate program in neuroscience. After being expelled and charged with fraud, Jenkins went on to commit a series of increasingly serious crimes, culminating in a 2001 kidnapping and attempted murder in which she tried to kill a woman and use the body to fake her own death in order to escape federal drug charges. She was convicted of attempted aggravated murder in 2003 and sentenced to a combined 36 years in state and federal prison.
Early life and education
Jenkins grew up in East Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Cuyahoga Community College but did not complete her degree there.[1]
Yale admissions fraud
In 1997, Jenkins was accepted into Yale University's graduate program in biological and biomedical sciences.[2] Her application included forged transcripts claiming straight-A grades from Cuyahoga Community College and Central State University in Ohio, as well as three fabricated letters of recommendation.[1] Jenkins had attended Cuyahoga but was not a straight-A student, and she had never attended Central State.[2] Yale awarded her a $10,600 grant and a $4,500 stipend based on her fraudulent credentials.[1]
Jenkins's fraud was discovered in December 1997 after she repeatedly failed to appear for examinations, prompting university officials to investigate her academic background.[2] A Yale spokesman noted that detecting high-quality forged applications was "virtually impossible" given the volume of applicants.[1]
After her expulsion, Jenkins attempted to escape from a police car while being transported from the Hall of Graduate Studies.[3] She was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny and second-degree forgery for obtaining more than $15,000 in Yale tuition and stipends.[3]
Failure to appear and false kidnapping claim
In July 1998, Jenkins failed to appear for a hearing in New Haven Superior Court. When authorities located her at her home in East Cleveland, she claimed that she had been raped, abducted, and held in the trunk of a car, which had prevented her from attending the trial.[3] She alleged that after her captor abandoned the vehicle, she kicked her way out of the trunk, found the keys still in the car, and drove herself home to Ohio.[3] The presiding judge, Roland D. Fasano, did not believe her account and sent her to jail, setting bail at $150,000.[3]
While incarcerated, Jenkins's lawyer received an anonymous letter accusing Yale officials of racism in their handling of the investigation, accompanied by a photograph of Jenkins bound and gagged.[3] The university and Judge Fasano dismissed the letter and photograph as fabrications, and Jenkins never filed a police complaint regarding the alleged kidnapping.[3] She also reportedly assaulted two prison guards before posting bail.[2]
In April 2000, Jenkins pleaded guilty to the fraud charges and was sentenced to three years of probation, with an order to undergo psychiatric counseling.[3]
Drug trafficking arrest
In July 2000, three months after her sentencing for the Yale fraud, Jenkins and her mother, Tonica Clement-Jenkins, were arrested in Tampa, Florida, after agreeing to purchase 22 pounds of cocaine from undercover United States Customs Service agents posing as Colombian drug smugglers.[3][4] At trial, both women claimed to be FBI informants, but an FBI agent testified that they had been terminated from that role three months earlier.[3] Jenkins faced up to ten years in federal prison if convicted.[4]
Kidnapping and attempted murder
The plot
Facing federal drug charges, Jenkins devised a plan to fake her own death in order to avoid imprisonment.[5] In April 2001, she enlisted her cousin, Kyle Martin, to help her find a woman of similar physical appearance whose body could be passed off as Jenkins's own.[4]
On April 19, 2001, Jenkins and Martin encountered Melissa Latham, a 27-year-old woman, on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.[4] Jenkins told Latham she was running an insurance scam and offered her money to attend medical appointments in her place.[4] As part of the scheme, Jenkins sent Latham to a dentist while wearing a Yale sweatshirt, intending to alter dental records that could later be used to identify the body as Jenkins.[2][5]
Attack and escape
Jenkins and Martin took Latham to the basement of Jenkins's parents' home, where they allegedly injected her with insulin multiple times and bludgeoned her with a brick.[5][4] Their plan was to kill Latham and burn her body.[6]
On April 21, 2001, Latham managed to escape from the basement and fled to a nearby KFC restaurant, where employees called 911.[5] When police arrived, Jenkins entered the restaurant and accused Latham of stealing from her, but Latham identified Jenkins as her attacker.[5] Police subsequently searched Jenkins's home, where they found her mother cleaning the basement with bleach and discovered blood splatter on the stairs and other areas.[5]
Trials and convictions
Drug conviction
Jenkins was first tried on the federal drug trafficking charges in Florida in April 2001. She was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in federal prison.[5]
Attempted murder conviction
Kyle Martin was tried separately and convicted of kidnapping in August 2001, though he was acquitted of attempted murder after testifying that he had feared for his own life and refused to participate in the killing.[4] He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[2]
In February 2003, Jenkins stood trial in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for the attack on Latham.[7] She was convicted of attempted aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence.[6] Cuyahoga County Judge Lillian Greene sentenced Jenkins to 20 years in prison, telling her at sentencing that she presented as "a narcissistic predator, preying on the vulnerable to save your own self."[6]
Jenkins's mother, Tonica Clement, was convicted of obstructing justice and sentenced to one year in prison, which she was credited as time served.[6]
Combined sentence
With her state and federal sentences combined, Jenkins received a total of 36 years in prison and became eligible for parole in 2039.[5]
In media
Jenkins's case was featured in an episode of the true crime television series Snapped on Oxygen in 2024.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Yale Grad Student Gets An 'F' – For Forgery". Chicago Tribune. December 17, 1997. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Yale no stranger to application fraud". Yale Daily News. April 10, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 "Expelled student arrested again". Yale Daily News. September 7, 2001. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "Mastermind or Moron?". Cleveland Scene. February 5, 2003. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 "Tonica Jenkins Tried to Fake Death in "Bizarre" Body Double Case". Oxygen. September 1, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Woman sentenced in body double murder plot". Cleveland 19. Associated Press. February 13, 2003. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
- ↑ "Yale imposter stands trial for attempted murder". CNN. February 4, 2003. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
This article "Tonica Jenkins" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Tonica Jenkins. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
