Suspect Says Captive Was Missed

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. —  A sex offender accused of kidnapping and killing a 9-year-old girl said she was alive inside his home when authorities came to investigate her disappearance early this year, according to court documents released Thursday.

John Couey, 46, said he fed Jessica Lunsford for two or three days in a closet in a Homosassa mobile home where he was staying before burying her alive in February.

During that time, authorities visited the home but never searched it, Couey said.

“They didn’t search,” he said in a March interview with detectives that was included in the documents. “They said they searched the house, but they didn’t search the house the first time.”

A medical examiner determined that she died of asphyxiation; investigators said her hands had been tied with stereo wire.

“She was alive. I buried her alive. Like, it’s stupid, but she suffered,” he told investigators.

Asked why he did it, Couey told investigators: “I got scared.... I guess I didn’t want to go to prison. But I’ll go anyway. I deserve it.”

In the interview, Couey said he sneaked through an unlocked door in the home where Jessica lived with her father and grandparents after a night of smoking crack and drinking beer.

He said he walked into Jessica’s bedroom and told the girl to follow him to his sister’s house across the street.

Couey, who has pleaded not guilty to capital murder, kidnapping and sexual assault, previously told authorities that he had kept Jessica alive for one day. Later, Couey told investigators that she was alive for six.

Authorities said last month that they doubted the veracity of Couey’s statements because he was on drugs at the time of the slaying.

Prosecutor Ric Ridgway has said there is no evidence to suggest that Jessica was in Couey’s house for any length of time.

Citrus County sheriff’s spokeswoman Gail Tierney said Thursday that “the evidence certainly would appear to back up what [Couey] says, and so would the autopsy results that she was asphyxiated.”

Couey’s lawyer, Daniel Lewan, declined to discuss the documents.

Jessica was last seen alive the night of Feb. 23 when she vanished from her bedroom. Her body was found March 19, buried behind the mobile home. Couey had told investigators where to find her.

Couey is being held without bail. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.