ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Thursday morning Jerry Jay was sentenced to 33 years in prison for the murder of Cecilia Finona. Finona, 59, disappeared on May 30, 2019, and was missing for more than a week. Jay was accused of using Finona’s bank card in Farmington; Window Rock; Kingman, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
More than two years later, in February of 2021, Finona’s body was found in Clark County, Nevada. Jerry Jay who was at that time in custody for credit card fraud was then accused of Finona’s kidnapping and murder.
In September 2022, Jay plead guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. According to the District Attorney’s office, Jay hit Finona in the head with a blunt object, put her in the back of her own truck, and fled the state. She then bled out while Jay drove through multiple states and eventually disposed of her body in Nevada.
According to the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, discussions Jay had while incarcerated, along with video evidence, financial records, and forensic evidence connected him to Finona’s murder.
Attorney General, Raúl Torrez, spoke on the sentencing saying, “Jerry Jay took a bright light from the world in 2019 and for that, he received the sentence that he deserves. I thank our prosecution team along with the San Juan County prosecutors for their dedication to this case and to Cecilia.”
