Guilty plea and sentencing in woman’s 2017 kidnapping, murder in Tuscaloosa Co.

TUSCALOOSA Co., Ala. (WBRC) - A 25-year-old California woman pleaded guilty in a Tuscaloosa County kidnapping murder case from 2017, according to Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Marshall announced that Vida Milagro Confetti-Duenas, age 25, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court to one count of capital murder during the course of kidnapping her victim, Jennifer Raven Nevin.

Nevin’s body was found off Watermelon Road and Phelps Road in July 2017.

Following her August 31, 2022, guilty plea, Confetti-Duenas was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said on July 15, 2017, Confetti-Duenas, and two other people, attended a party in Cottondale where Jennifer Nevin was present. Prosecutors said Confetti-Duenas and a codefendant erroneously believed that Nevin was involved in a plot to rob them. Confetti-Duenas was a friend of Nevin and she convinced Nevin to get in the vehicle with her, the codefendants and another female, according to court records. Once in the vehicle, Confetti-Duenas and a codefendant made repeated threats to kill Nevin and pointed a gun at her.

Confetti-Duenas then drove them to an area off of Watermelon Road where Nevin was taken out of the car and struck and kicked repeatedly and shot four times, according to investigators. Her body was found two days later.

Confetti-Duenas and her codefendants were each taken into custody by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on July 18, 2017, and charged with capital murder during the course of first-degree kidnapping.

The case was investigated by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Criminal Trials Division.

The other suspects’ cases remain pending in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court.

“Ms. Confetti-Duenas gave no regard to the life of Jennifer Nevin when she willfully participated in the kidnapping and violent murder of her victim,” said Attorney General Marshall. “She will pay for her crimes by serving a sentence of life without parole.”

Attorney General Marshall commended Assistant Attorneys General Kenneth Gibbs and Christopher Moore for their work in successfully prosecuting the case, and also thanked the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office for their invaluable assistance in investigating the case.

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