Jason Hartley was fifteen years old when he murdered a teenage girl for making fun of him. According to prosecutors Jason Hartley paid the victim to have sex with him and after it was over Hartley refused to pay the girl and she made fun of the fact that he was a virgin. The teen killer would strangle the fourteen year old girl to death. Jason Hartley would tell police it was an accidental strangling however they would not believe him. Jason Hartley would be sentenced to twenty years in prison
Jason Hartley 2023 Information
DC Number: | L79681 |
---|---|
Name: | HARTLEY, JASON |
Race: | WHITE |
Sex: | MALE |
Birth Date: | 04/14/1993 |
Initial Receipt Date: | 05/20/2010 |
Current Facility: | MOORE HAVEN C.F. |
Current Custody: | MINIMUM |
Current Release Date: | 08/26/2025 |
Jason Hartley More News
The virgin Fort Lauderdale teen who paid a girl to have sex with him and then killed her when she made fun of him will be spending the next two decades behind bars.
Jason Hartley, 17, struck a deal with prosecutors Monday that will put him in jail for 20 years, with five years of probation after that.
Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and sporting thin patches of facial hair on his still boyish-looking face, Hartley said little as the sentence was handed down in a Broward Circuit courtroom
Hartley was 15 when he agreed to pay 14-year-old Neica Marie Gibbs $50 to have sex with him in his family’s Fort Lauderdale trailer home on June 28, 2008, according to police.
But after performing the act, Hartley didn’t pay up, Gibbs reportedly began to make fun of Hartley for being a virgin, and an altercation ensued.
By the end of the fight, Gibbs was strangled to death, in what Hartley called an accident. Hartley wrapped the body in a tarp and hid it next to a dumpster near the trailer home.
After three weeks and a missing persons report by Gibbs’ family, the body was found after the strong odor tipped neighbors off.
Hartley’s mother had said the teen had some anger issues.
Hartley had pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge at first, claiming that Gibbs had hit her head on a treadmill in the fight. He admitted his guilt Monday.
“The totality of the evidence proves this was not an accident,” prosecutor Maria Schenider said, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Hartley thanked Judge Cynthia Imperato as he was led away in shackles.
Some members of Gibbs’ family were in court, where they wore shirts with photos of the slain girl.
“I’m very glad it’s over and I think he should have got more time than 20 years because he destroyed my family,” said aunt Regina Gibbs after the hearing. “That was my niece, she was a good kid, great grades, went to school everyday, never bothered anybody, so I’m just really hurt right now but I’m glad it’s over.
“His family can still see him, I can never see my niece again, never.”
Jason Hartley Other News
Fort Lauderdale teen who confessed to strangling a 14-year-old girl after they had sex and she made fun of him for being a virgin was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday after admitting to the judge in a soft voice that he was guilty.
Jason Hartley, now 17, had initially pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. He changed his plea Monday morning, and under terms of a deal agreed to by prosecutors, Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato sentenced him to the prison term, to be followed by five years of probation.
Hartley confessed to strangling Neica Marie Gibbs, a fellow middle school student, on June 28, 2008, then wrapping her body in a blue tarp and stashing it next to a garbage bin less than 90 feet from his home in the Azalea Trailer Colony in Fort Lauderdale.
Gibbs’ body rotted beneath a heap of garbage for three weeks before a rank smell led two women to discover the Sunrise Middle School student’s corpse.
Barbara Queer, Gibbs’ grandmother, reported her granddaughter missing after she did not return from a sleepover in the same trailer park.
In a videotaped confession to police, the pudgy, sobbing boy, then 15, said he had agreed to pay $50 to Gibbs in exchange for his first sexual encounter.
Gibbs mocked him afterward and turned violent because he didn’t have any money, Hartley said. He accidentally killed her while fighting off her attack, he told police.
According to prosecutor Maria Schneider, “the totality of the evidence proves this was not an accident.”
Gibbs’ paternal aunt said Monday that she was disappointed in the sentence meted out by Imperato.
“She was just a beautiful kid. I don’t know why he did this to her,” said Regina Gibbs, 46, of Fort Lauderdale. “It’s disgusting. It hurts, it really hurts.”
She said she was glad to put the ordeal behind her and her family but resented that Jason Hartley would one day be able to resume his life after coldly cutting short her young niece’s life.
Hartley’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender George Reres, lamented seeing one life forfeited for another. His client, he said, had a long-term crush on the victim, and came from a troubled family.
“This was a tragically confusing and emotional conflict with the young lady,” Reres said. “He came from a situation of hopelessness. There was never any consistency, there was never any stability, there was violence in the home.”
Reres said Hartley’s confession was the only evidence prosecutors had against his client. But fearful that he might be convicted at trial and face a life sentence, he said Jason Hartley opted for the 20 years and “a future” beyond prison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jason Hartley Now
Jason Hartley is currently incarcerated at the Moore Haven Correctional Facility
Jason Hartley Release Date
Jason Hartley current release date is 2025