PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Federal prosecutors are calling on Louis Coleman to pay more than a half million dollars in restitution to the daughter of the woman he kidnapped, murdered and stuffed in his trunk in 2019.
A new court filing shows federal prosecutors are asking a judge to order the convicted Providence man to pay more than $632,000, most of it for Jassy Correia’s daughter, who was two years old when Coleman murdered her mother.
The amount represents restitution for “financial losses to the victim’s daughter, for the victim’s funeral expenses, and for the victim’s family’s court travel costs,” argued the prosecutors from the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Investigators said Coleman kidnapped Correia from outside a Boston nightclub in February 2019. He later killed her and wasn’t arrested until Delaware police pulled him over and discovered Correia’s body inside the truck of his car.
A federal jury convicted Coleman earlier this year of kidnapping and murdering the 23-year-old mother. He was sentenced to life in prison and is currently serving out his time at federal prison in California.
In the legal filing, prosecutors acknowledged that Coleman will likely never be able to pay restitution while spending the rest of his life in prison, calling it “largely symbolic.”
But they noted the order would “assure that if the defendant comes into financial good fortunate, those funds can be claimed for the benefit of Jassy’s daughter.” As an example, the prosecutors pointed to Boston Marathon Bombing case in which terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution to his victims.
“While this was likewise a ‘largely symbolic’ restitution award, when Tsarnaev received a COVID-19 relief payment, the government was able to request that payment be applied to restitution for the benefit of victims,” prosecutors argued in the Coleman case.
A federal judge must now decide on whether to approve the request for restitution.
Eli Sherman (esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is the Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter at 12 News, and the host of Newsmakers. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.