Overview
- On Thursday, July 2, 2026, 23-year-old Jalen Pendergrass pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and admitted he put his hands around 17-year-old London Thomas’s neck until she stopped breathing.
- Thomas’s body was found April 26, 2025 inside a sealed plastic bin in an SUV parked on Millard Street in Southfield, and the Oakland County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as asphyxia and the manner a homicide.
- As part of the plea deal prosecutors dismissed several related charges against Jalen, including counts tied to evidence tampering and unlawful imprisonment, and he faces sentencing on July 31.
- Charla Pendergrass, 49 and Jalen’s mother, remains charged with second-degree murder and alleged evidence tampering; she is due in court for a pretrial conference on July 31 and her trial is set to begin Oct. 26.
- Investigators say a tip from a friend of Charla led police to the SUV where the body was found, and the outcome of the upcoming trial will determine whether prosecutors can prove she arranged the bin’s movement and tampered with evidence.