SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – The man who shot and killed a 21-year-old Spotsylvania woman execution style inside of a car has been sentenced to life in prison.
Jonathan Julian Vejarano, 29, was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiring to commit murder and a gun charge earlier this year in connection to the murder of Heather Ciccone.
Inside a Spotsylvania Circuit Court Monday, Vejarano received a sentence of life in prison plus eight years, which was recommended by the jury in June.
Heather Ciccone (PHOTO: Ciccone family photo)
Vejarano is the second person to be sentenced in Ciccone’s murder.
Joshua Christopher Williams was convicted of first-degree murder in December 2017. He is serving 38 years in prison.
Ciccone was found shot in her car, parked outside a home on Piney Branch Road, about 30 minutes from her Spotsylvania home on December 6, 2015.
Evidence presented by prosecutors revealed that Ciccone had gone there to acquire marijuana from Williams.
Prosecutors say Ciccone’s murder was a conspiracy by Vejarano, Williams, and Danielle Long, the mother of Williams child.
Jonathan Julian Vejarano (left) and Joshua Christopher Williams
According to the Free Lance-Star, Prosecutors claimed that Williams had arranged the killing in part because Long had convinced him to do so. They argued that Long was upset after finding out that Williams and Ciccone were having a sexual relationship.
Prosecutors said Vejarano didn’t know Ciccone but carried out the hit for membership into Williams’ street gang, the G-Shyne Blood, and a large amount of marijuana.
Long was never charged in connection with Ciccone’s murder but spent nearly a year in jail while awaiting trial on related conspiracy to commit perjury charges, the Free Lance-Star reports.
