DETROIT (Court TV) — A man is heading to prison for decades after admitting to his role in his teenage girlfriend’s death.
Jalen Pendergrass appears at his sentencing on July 31, 2026 (Court Zoom)
Jalen Pendergrass, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of 17-year-old London Thomas, whom he had been dating. Pendergrass entered the guilty plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors that had them drop charges of tampering with evidence, felony murder and unlawful imprisonment.
Jalen Pendergrass sat stone-faced as the victim’s mother and grandmothers delivered emotional impact statements at his sentencing on Friday. “I’m struggling to find words when there are none to express the feelings that I have had,” Jasmine Bennett, London’s mother, said through tears. “Losing London has been the most horrific and difficult event of my life.”
London was reported missing on April 5, 2025; she was last seen alive when she had been dropped off at Jalen Pendergrass’ home at approximately 4 a.m. that day.
It took 21 days for investigators to find the victim’s body. A witness called police and said that Jalen Pendergrass’ mother, Charla Pendergrass, had asked him to move a sealed plastic bin. When officers went to investigate, they found London’s body inside the bin, which was in an SUV that had been parked in the same spot for approximately two weeks.
As London’s family searched for her, Jalen Pendergrass lied to them and to the police, prosecutor Dominic DeGrazia said, even posting videos on social media claiming that she had been seen alive. Jalen Pendergrass also placed several calls to police during that time, claiming the victim’s family was harassing him.
“I think the defendant truly believed, and perhaps, still believes, that he is actually a victim here. That he has been persecuted by mysterious forces, and that he’s not the person at fault here,” DeGrazia said. “And what I think that goes to is kind of a cold-blooded, callous, calculated effort on behalf of the defendant, where he was perfectly willing to let London’s family go the rest of their lives without knowing whether London was alive or dead, or even give them the courtesy of being allowed to bury her remains.”
Jalen Pendergrass admitted his role in London’s death at a plea hearing on July 2, at which he said that the two got into an altercation and he had put his hands around the victim’s neck until she stopped breathing, WWJ reported.
“The only regret I have is that Charla and Jalen Pendergrass are still walking this earth, and London is not,” the victim’s grandmother, Barbara Bennett, said in court on Friday. “And he is a waste of skin.”
Adam Clements, Pendergrass’ attorney, argued his client deserved credit for admitting to the crime. “There’s still questions, really, that would not have been truly answered without Mr. Pendergrass’ plea, in terms of articulating the circumstances as to how London died,” he said. “When [the defendant] came into contact with [the victim] on the night in question, he continued to make bad decision after bad decision. He’s expressed remorse for those decisions when he’s spoken to me.”
Judge Paul Cusick sentenced Jalen Pendergrass in line with the agreement he reached with police, which requires him to serve 25 to 50 years in prison. “I do believe that every minute of a 50-year sentence would be deserved in this case,” he said.
Charla Pendergrass is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, felony murder and unlawful imprisonment in London’s death. She has pleaded not guilty; her trial is scheduled to begin in October.
