BATTLE CREEK, MI (WTVB) – A Battle Creek man entered a guilty plea to a second degree murder charge on Monday in Calhoun County Circuit Court in connection with the March 2020 death of Allison Sargent of Pennfield Township.
28-year-old Jose Juarez of Bedford Township was scheduled to go on trial for open murder and weapons charges next Tuesday. He is now scheduled to be sentenced on November 15. The plea agreement calls for a minimum prison sentence of 27 years.
Sargent was reported missing on March 5, 2020 by her fiance.
Her burned body was found along River Road in Emmett Township two days later.
The Calhoun County Major Crimes Task Force was activated and police got a break on March 10, 2020 when Sargent’s vehicle was found in Detroit. The interior had been burned.
Calhoun County Sheriff Steve Hinkley said at the time that investigators think Sargent was shot to death in a residence on Timber Lane in Bedford Township before her body was taken to the location in Emmett Township where she was found.
