A Texas man has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend after jurors heard that he sent sexually explicit texts to other women while her dead body was in the trunk of his car.
Jason Lowe, 28, was sentenced to 50 years behind bars after killing his 27-year-old live-in girlfriend, Jessie Bardwell, PEOPLE reports.
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Bardwell’s body was found in a rural area of Farmersville, Texas on May 19, 2016. She had been wrapped in a sheet and partially covered with bubble wrap.
During Lowe’s trial, prosecutors alleged that Lowe had sent sexually explicit text messages to at least five different women, sending naked photos of himself to some of them. Lowe took the stand, he testified that he had never acted on the texts, while his attorney compared his sexual behavior to an addiction.
When Lowe took the stand, he reportedly tearfully admitted that he had accidentally slipped and pushed Bardwell while they were having sex in the shower on May 1, 2016. He said she first hit her head on the wall and then on the edge of the bathtub, according to court records. Lowe claimed that he and Bardwell had voluntarily taken the the date rape drug GHB. He said Bardwell suffered a cut to the forehead and felt dizzy before they took more GHB and took a nap.
When Lowe woke up, he says he found her dead. He put her body in the trunk of his car, parked it in his garage in Richardson and on May 9, 2016 dumped her in a wooded area.
I should have called someone,” he testified. “I should have called police.”
When asked by his defense attorney why he didn’t call 911, he responded: “I was scared.”
Bardwell’s family didn’t report her missing until May 9, more than a week after she died, after they didn’t hear from her on Mother’s Day. The medical examiner was unable to determine how, exactly, Bardwell died, but they did determine she was a victim of foul play.
“The coroner said the cause of death was homicidal violence,” Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said in August 2016, according to the Sun Herald. “That’s the cause of death listed on the death certificate.”
Lowe initially faced a life sentence but reached a deal with the prosecution if he would tell authorities where to find Bardwell’s body.
Photo Credit: PEOPLE
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