JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — A woman who admitted to beating a man to death with a sledgehammer before leaving a note on his chest was sentenced to prison on Monday.
Journee McGrew testified at her sentencing hearing on April 30, 2026. (WJXT)
Journee McGrew, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Waduta Woodley, 41. Woodley’s body was found in the stairwell at McGrew’s apartment complex in Jacksonville; on his body, first responders saw a note, written in green highlighter, that said, “PEDO Touches Children.”
McGrew’s defense alleged that Woodley sexually abused her as a child from ages 8 to 16 while her family was living with him. Years later, McGrew was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD after suffering paranoid delusions; she was involuntarily committed to hospitals for treatment in 2024.
But in 2025, McGrew stopped taking her medication; her attorneys said that she no longer had insurance.
McGrew testified at her sentencing hearing, admitting to luring Woodley to her home on July 2, 2025, by telling him that she wanted to have sex. She said she had no plan to attack Woodley, but admitted that when he grabbed her, “I just started swinging with the hammer.” Immediately after the attack, McGrew called her father and said, “Daddy, I think I killed him.”
“I really wasn’t in my right mind,” McGrew testified at the April hearing. “I’m not violent.”
McGrew’s sentencing spanned three hearings over four months as Judge Lindsay Tygart weighed the defendant’s fate. While prosecutors urged Tygart to impose a life sentence, McGrew’s defense offered testimony from Dr. Kathryn Ritter, a psychologist who evaluated the defendant and said that “Ms. McGrew’s offense was not the product of malice or criminal predisposition, but rather of psychological suffering and distorted moral reasoning born from untreated illness and trauma.”
McGrew’s defense urged Tygart to consider that since her arrest, the defendant has resumed taking her medications, has been compliant with therapy and has shown remorse for her actions. “I’m sorry about what I did,” McGrew previously testified. “I know how much I impacted your family and also mine. I’m really sorry for what happened.”
At a brief hearing on Monday, Tygart sentenced McGrew to 45 years in prison, with credit for 411 days’ time served, WJXT reported.
