KENT, Wash. -- A 25-year-old man who strangled a woman in the parking lot of the nursing home he worked at and then stuffed her body into the trunk of her car was convicted of murder Wednesday.The body of 75-year-old Jane Britt was found on March 19, 2008 in the trunk of her car parked at Garden Terrace Care Facility in Federal Way, where Joseph Njonge worked as a certified nursing assistant.
Britt was believed to have been visiting her husband at the facility the day before her body was discovered. He died two weeks before the trial began.
The jury deliberated the case for more than a day and a half at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Prosecutor Carla Carlstrom said the jury couldn't agree on first-degree murder, so Njonge was convicted of murder in the second-degree.
"This case was difficult because unfortunately only Mrs. Britt knows exactly what happened that night, along with the defendant, so since the jury couldn't know exactly why he killed her I think that certainly factored to a difficulty of convicting him of murder in the first degree," Carlstrom said.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that Britt fought hard against her assailant "over a prolonged period of time" and was strangled by Njonge, who used a ligature and came at her from behind.
It was DNA from skin cells found under the victim's fingernails that led to the Njonge's capture, Satterberg said. Britt's husband's credit card was also found in Njonge's pocket.
The Britt family said through the prosecutor that they are “satisfied” with the verdict.
Njonge will be sentenced next month and could be sentenced from 10 to 20 years in prison.
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