GUILTY Ms - Tena Broadus, 29, Gulfport, 17 Sept 2015 *arrests*

AmandaSkis said:

A news station has the story on its Facebook page. Comments add a little insight.

https://www.facebook.com/WLOXTV?fref=nf

(I would link directly to the story on Facebook but do not know how to do that.)

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mpnola said:

I had a feeling something was up with Aaron before I even looked at the names, just because of their communication on FB. It always bothers me so much when you see 2 people who communicate and obviously know each other well on FB, then one is accused of killing the other. What a betrayal.

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Tulessa said:

Who's Aaron?

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Tulessa said:

Who's Aaron?

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Tena Broadus, 29, was cut with a knife or machete Sept. 18 at a Gulfport home on O'Neal Road and her remains were set on fire in nearby woods; her skeletal remains were found Oct. 7 in the Biloxi River.

She allegedly was killed because she was believed to be a "snitch."

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A Harrison County jury has indicted the five people charged with killing Tena Broadus in September 2015.

Kari Parker, Joshua Peterman, and Devin Gregory were all indicted on the charge of first degree murder. Aaron Bobinger and Natasha Sellers were charged with accessory after the fact.

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Aaron Bobinger pleaded guilty to his role in the 2015 murder of Tena Marie Broadus this week.

District Attorney Joel Smith said Bobinger, 32, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in the Harrison County Courthouse. Sentencing is set for Oct. 2. Bobinger faces up to 20 years in prison.

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The remaining co-defendants are scheduled to appear in court in September and October.

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Natasha Sellers has pleaded guilty to her role in the 2015 murder of Tena Broadus. District Attorney Joel Smith said Sellers pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder Monday.

Sellers sentencing was set for Feb. 5, 2017.

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A woman who helped transport the remains of Tena Broadus after she was killed has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

A grand jury had indicted Kari Michelle Parker on a first-degree murder charge. The charge was downgraded to second-degree murder as part of her plea agreement. She will be sentenced at a later time.

Parker faces 20 to 40 years in prison at her sentencing. But first, she is expected to testify in the trial of Joshua Peterman and Devon Gregory.

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A new trial date has been set for the two remaining suspects charged in the 2015 murder of Tena Broadus.

Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker said Joshua Peterman and Devin Gregory are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 22, 2018. They are charged with first-degree murder.

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On April 25, 20-year-old Devin Gregory of Gulfport plead guilty to second degree murder in the Harrison County Courthouse. Gregory was originally indicted for first degree murder in 2017, but the charge was amended to second degree murder at the time of his plea.

Under Mississippi law, because of his guilty plea to Second Degree Murder, Gregory faces 20 to 40 years of incarceration for his role in Broadus’s death. Kari Parker, Natasha Sellers, and Aaron Bobinger have all plead guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The trial date for Joshua Peterman, who is being held on $1 million bond, is set for May 7, 2018. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Mitch Owen.

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Prosecutors portrayed Joshua Peterman as a heartless killer and the feared leader in charge of a motley crew of "meth heads" who stood by as he killed 29-year-old Tena Marie Broadus because he feared she would snitch on him.

Broadus suffered a slow and agonizing death on September 18, 2015, in a shed behind Peterman's Gulfport home, Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Owen told a jury Tuesday as the trial began in Circuit Court.

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Devin Gregory said the couple took Broadus to a shed and were beating her with their fists and the butt end of a machete. Gregory said Peterman told him to go get Duct tape. Peterman used the tape to tie Broadus to a chair and later hung her by her feet from a beam in the shed, Gregory said.

They were inside smoking meth while Broadus was in the shed screaming, he said. Peterman told Gregory to go to his house nearby and get some sleeping pills to sedate Broadus.

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Kari Parker was so numbed out from shooting up methamphetamine that she felt nothing when she saw the beaten body of a woman that her new love interest, Joshua Peterman, had been fighting with earlier.

During Peterman's trial on a first-degree murder charge, Parker said at least 20 times, "I was high."

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Parker often said during her testimony that she could not remember some details from that day. She did say several times, referring to Broadus: "I never put my hands on her."

Peterman's attorney, Phil Wittmann, told Parker: "It's very convenient that you can't remember things because of drugs but you can remember you didn't do anything."

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Shortly before noon Wednesday, the jury was led out of the courtroom after an outburst by Peterman. Kari Parker was testifying when Peterman became upset with his attorney, saying he had been offered a plea deal but didn’t want to take it because he didn’t want to testify against Parker.

“You can’t hide these facts! I want to approach her," said Peterman.

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The judge promptly replied to Peterman, telling him, "Sir, shut up," before denying his request for a new attorney.

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Aaron Bodinger was also called to the witness stand after Parker. Bodinger pleaded guilty to Accessory after the Fact to Murder for his involvment in the crime. Despite being asked several times by the defense lawyer if he was the one who killed Broadus, Bodinger repeatedly denied it stating he loved Tena.

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Bodinger says he was mad that he thought Tena ditched him the day of her murder and admitted to sending Facebook messages to her saying, 'I'm going to kill you'. He insisted he was angry, but he didn't kill her.

Bodinger told the court Parker confessed to him that she killed Broadus along with Peterman.

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A Harrison County jury that deliberated for three hours found Joshua Peterman guilty of first-degree murder Friday afternoon in the September 2015 death of 29-year-old Tena Broadus of Gulfport.

His sentencing is set for July 12. If he is sentenced as a lifetime, habitual offender, as the district attorney's office is arguing that he should be, 31-year-old Peterman will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Owen had the last word: "They're the dregs of society. But at least some of them had the decency to come in here and tell you what happened, because it was wrong."

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The entire trial was an exhausting experience for the family of Tena Broadus. The trial began with a prayer and ended with a prayer.

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"I grew up a long time with Tena," said her sister-in-law Lindsay Allen. "She's my sister. We raised our kids together. It's been a very long three years. They ripped apart my family. My mother-in-law laid on the couch and died shortly after Tena was gone."

"Tena was a beautiful soul. She had a lot of life in her. She had a lot of love to give," Allen said. "She loved her son, more than anything else. Everything was about him. And now he'll never see her again. But he has a huge family backing him. ... I feel for everybody in this case, but justice was served today."

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