Florida v. John Couey

John Evander Couey has plead guilty to the rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. He was charged with capital murder, burglary with battery, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child less than 12 years of age.

Couey, a convicted sex offender with a 30-year criminal history, is being held at the Citrus County jail, away from the general inmate population for his own safety.

Jessica, a vivacious and happy third-grader, was abducted one night from her bedroom in the small town of Homasassa.

Her body was found three weeks later, on March 19, 2005, buried in garbage bags behind a mobile home a short distance from her own house. She had her favorite stuffed dolphin and her hands were bound by speaker wire, but authorities say it appeared she had tried to poke her fingers through the bags. She died of asphyxiation.

Couey, who was arrested for previous sex crimes involving children in 1978 and 1991, was living with his half-sister at the trailer near the Lunsford home. But authorities searching for Jessica didn't know that, because he had moved there without telling them as required under sex offender registration laws.

As the search intensified, Couey traveled to Georgia, where he was arrested on an unrelated Florida warrant. He confessed to Jessica's abduction and murder to two Citrus County sheriff's detectives who traveled there to interview him, but that taped confession was thrown out by a judge because Couey wasn't allowed to consult a lawyer as he requested.

That means the jury won't hear what is perhaps the strongest evidence against Couey. But the jury will be told that Couey described where to find Jessica's body and that he told jail guards and others about his alleged role in the crime. Prosecutors have DNA and other evidence placing Jessica in the Couey mobile home before she died.

• Jury selection began Monday in the trial for John Evander Couey
• The 48-year-old sex offender faces the death penalty if convicted
• Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped, raped and killed in 2005
• The girl's death led to tougher sex offender laws in at least 19 states

Update: Couey was recently moved to Miami due to publicity issues with jury selection.