CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A Littleton, Massachusetts man accused of killing his one-time fiancé in 2022 was found guilty of murder by a Camden County jury Thursday and sentenced to life in prison.
Jason Palmer, 47, was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another in the 2022 stabbing death of 45-year-old Jessica Goodrich.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley then sentenced Palmer to life in prison without the possibility of parole and a consecutive sentence of 10 years to serve in prison. Prosecutors said Palmer, a long-distance commercial truck driver, convinced Goodrich, his former fiancé, to join him on a month-long trucking assignment, traveling from Worcester, Massachusetts to Central Florida.
They drove from Wildwood to a truck stop at Exit 14 off Interstate-95 in Camden County. Palmer then stabbed Goodrich to death and concealed her body in the wood line and removing her of any items relating to her identity.
Goodrich was discovered Oct. 8, 2022, by a man walking his dog in the woods and she was identified through her fingerprints.
Palmer was the primary suspect due to circumstantial evidence and a history of abusing Goodrich, including threats to rape and kill her in 2020.
"The evidence at trial included Palmer telling Goodrich’s son that Goodrich had left him in Wildwood, Florida and photographs that Goodrich had sent to her son, which showed bruising to her face and neck that resulted from Palmer choking her," a press release from Brunswick Judicial Circuit.
On Oct. 1, Goodrich told her son she was going to look up flights and Ubers because she couldn’t be with Palmer, and she wasn’t going to end up dead in his truck. Goodrich’s son sent a text message to Goodrich on Oct. 3, but never received a response, prosecutors said. The last communication anyone had with Goodrich was on Oct. 5.
Prosecutors said GPS evidence for Palmer’s truck showed he was in Woodbine, Georgia for more than 12 hours preceding the discovery of Goodrich’s body and evidence of Palmer’s cell phone use also confirmed his presence in the city.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Hal Moroz and Assistant District Attorney Cameron Atwood.
