The Brutal Murder Of Jason Sweeney

The brutal murder of Jason Sweeney would shock the small community in Pennsylvania when it took place in 2003 as along with the sheer violence of the murder when it was revealed those responsible were a group of teenagers

Jason Sweeney was working a steady job and bringing in good money for someone his age as well he had begun dating Justine Morley. What Jason Sweeney did not know is that Justina was using him and was also sleeping with his friends.

Jason Sweeney received a phone call to meet Justina Morley at a remote location in Fishtown Pennsylvania. When Jason arrived he would be attacked by Edward Batzig Jr, Nicholas Coia and Dominic Coia who would beat the young man to death.

Justina Morley, Nicholas Coia, Dominic Coia and Edward Batzig Jr would rob the body of Jason Sweeney which they spent on drugs.

Justina Morley, Nicholas Coia, Dominic Coia and Edward Batzig Jr would soon be arrested and charged with robbery and murder

Justina Morley would quickly turn against the other members of the group in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. She has since been released from prison

Nicholas Coia, Dominic Coia and Edward Batzig Jr would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole

Justina Morley Current Information

Inmate Number:

 OJ6487
Age:

 38
Date of Birth:

 03/07/1988
Height:

 5′ 04″
Weight (lbs):

 142
Gender:

 Female
Complexion:

 FAIR
State:

 PENNSYLVANIA
Release Date:

 12/21/2023

Edward Batzig Jr

Parole Number:

 103HY
Age:

 39
Date of Birth:

 10/05/1986
Height:

 6′ 00″
Gender:

 MALE
Citizenship:

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Complexion:

 LIGHT
Current Location:

 CHESTER

Dominic Coia

Parole Number:

 095HY
Age:

 40
Date of Birth:

 06/13/1985
Height:

 5′ 10″
Gender:

 MALE
Citizenship:

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Complexion:

 LIGHT
Current Location:

 FAYETTE

Nicholas Coia Current Information

Parole Number:

 102HY
Age:

 39
Date of Birth:

 08/30/1986
Height:

 5′ 06″
Gender:

 MALE
Citizenship:

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Complexion:

 LIGHT
Current Location:

 MERCER

Jason Sweeney Case

Jason Sweeney, 16, was a brown-haired, easygoing teenager who loved working beside his father on construction jobs. His best friend was Eddie Batzig, a bespectacled 16-year-old. The girl he wanted to bring home to meet his mother was pale, slender Justina Morley, 15.

On the evening of May 30, Justina allegedly lured Jason to the Trails, a wooded area of the working-class Fishtown section of Philadelphia along the Delaware River. She promised him sex.

The two were undressing when Eddie allegedly appeared with a hatchet. With him were two other teenage boys Jason knew. One was armed with a hammer.

According to the confession of Dominic Coia, who appeared in court recently, Jason Sweeney was beaten savagely and fatally. The three young men are charged as adults with murder along with Morley, who police say was part of the plot.

As Jason lay dying, Coia told police, “We took Sweeney’s wallet out and split up the money, and we partied beyond redemption.” But first, he said, the teens shared “a group hug–it was like we were all happy with what we did.”

Like any big city, Philadelphia is accustomed to almost daily murders, some of them brutal, some committed by teenagers. But this one was different, and the accused teens’ apparent callousness and utter lack of remorse have shocked the city.

The accused killers were not high on drugs. The killing was not random. It was not a crime of passion or self-defense or a drug deal gone bad.

A police detective testified that he asked Coia, 18, whether he was high on drugs during the murder. “No, I was as sober as I am now,” he replied. “It is sick, isn’t it?”

The killers planned the crime several days in advance, according to police. They sent Morley as “the bait,” Coia told police. As Sweeney lay unconscious after the first blows, they smashed his face at least a dozen times. They left with Sweeney’s $500 weekly salary, which they spent on heroin, marijuana and the depressant Xanax.

To prepare for the killing that day, Coia told police, “we must have listened to `Helter Skelter’ about 42 times.” Mass murderer Charles Manson said the Beatles song inspired him and his followers during their 1969 killing spree in Los Angeles.

Batzig, who had been Sweeney’s best friend since 4th grade, told a detective that he hit his friend’s face four or five times with a hatchet, according to court testimony.

“Jason started begging for his life, but we just kept hitting him,” Batzig told police.

At a preliminary hearing June 17, no explanation was offered for why the killers did not simply rob Jason. Jason’s father, Paul Sweeney, thinks he knows why.

“Jealousy,” he said last week in the kitchen of his Fishtown row house. “They were jealous that Jason was moving past them, growing beyond them as a good person. He wasn’t hooked on drugs like the rest of them, and they wanted vengeance.”

Coia abused heroin, marijuana and alcohol, according to his lawyer, Lee Mandell. Morley, Batzig and Coia’s brother, Nicholas, 16, abused heroin, marijuana and prescription drugs, according to court testimony.

On the day of the killing, Dominic Coia told police that the killers left the house to hide in the woods as Morley lured Jason Sweeney to the site. They put on latex gloves, Coia said.

They counted down “three, two, one,” Coia said, and then they attacked.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-06-29-0306290275-story.html

Jason Sweeney Video

Jason Sweeney: Lured, Beaten, and Killed for a Paycheck

On May 30, 2003, 16-year-old Jason Keel Sweeney left his job on a Philadelphia construction site with $500 cash in his pocket. He thought he was meeting his new girlfriend for sex in the woods. Instead, his best friend since fourth grade and two brothers he knew from the neighborhood were waiting with a hatchet, a hammer, and a rock.

Jason was beaten until his skull was crushed. The only bone left undamaged in his face was his left cheekbone. He was identified by a cut on his hand from work.

The killers then split his money, bought heroin and Xanax, and “partied beyond redemption.” One later told police, “Jason started begging for his life, but we just kept hitting him.”

It was not a drug deal gone wrong. It was a planned execution by four teenagers who were jealous of him.

Who Was Jason Sweeney?

Jason Keel Sweeney was born July 29, 1986, in Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died May 30, 2003 at age 16.

He was a high school student who left school to work full time for his father Paul, a contractor. Friends described him as hardworking, well-liked, and focused. He had been accepted to Valley Forge Military Academy and College, his dream school, because he wanted to become a Navy SEAL. He could not afford the tuition, so he was saving his construction paychecks.

He lived in Fishtown, a tight-knit, working-class neighborhood along the Delaware River.

Jason Sweeney was a construction worker from Fishtown, Philadelphia, who at the age of 16 was murdered by four teenagers for his paycheck on May 30, 2003. The perpetrators included a girl he was dating and his best friend since childhood.

The Killers: A Girlfriend and Three Friends

The four were all from the same neighborhood and all struggled with heroin addiction:

1. Justina Morley, 15 – Jason’s girlfriend of a few weeks. She had a history of self-harm, suicide attempts, and substance abuse starting at age 10. She had been hospitalized at Friends Hospital for cutting and was expelled from public school in 8th grade.
2. Edward Batzig Jr., 16 – Jason’s best friend since fourth grade. He was dating Morley at the same time as Jason.
3. Nicholas Coia, 16 – former friend of Jason. Morley was also having sex with him in exchange for heroin days before the murder.
4. Domenic Coia, 17 – Nicholas’s older brother, 14 days shy of 18 at the time of the crime.

Unbeknownst to Sweeney, Morley engaged in sexual relations with both Nicholas Coia and Edward Batzig Jr. just days before the murder.

The Motive: Envy, Not Just Robbery

Police initially thought it was a simple robbery for the $500 paycheck. A detective and forensic psychologist later concluded the motivation went beyond robbery and stemmed from envy and resentment of Sweeney’s relative success in life.

Jason had a job, a supportive family, and a plan for the military. The other four were unemployed dropouts using heroin daily. They resented him for it.

Part of the preparation was listening to the Beatles song “Helter Skelter” over forty times, prompting later news coverage to draw a parallel to the Manson family murders.

Joshua Staab, a friend of Domenic, told police the group bragged about their plan to kill Sweeney by using Justina Morley as “bait.” Staab also said Batzig knew Sweeney would have his paycheck on him that day. When asked about their demeanor after, Staab said, “They seemed pretty fine. In a way, happy.”

May 30, 2003: The Murder at “The Trails”

With the promise of sex, Morley lured Sweeney to “The Trails,” a wooded area of Fishtown near the Delaware River, where Batzig and the Coia brothers were lying in wait.

The attack was savage:

• Batzig struck first, hitting Sweeney in the head four or five times with a hatchet.
• Batzig and the Coia brothers then pummeled Sweeney, primarily on his head and face, with a hatchet, a hammer and a rock until he was dead.
• Batzig later told a detective: “Jason started begging for his life, but we just kept hitting him.” Batzig also said Sweeney looked at him and said, “Please stop, I’m bleeding,” after which Batzig hit him again.
• They finished by dropping a boulder on the right side of his head.
• Sweeney’s head was crushed and the only bone left undamaged was his left cheekbone.

Following the murder, the four stole the $500 cash. Before leaving, they shared a group hug and split the money, which they used to buy jewelry and illegal drugs — heroin, marijuana, and Xanax — and then “partied beyond redemption,” according to Domenic.

Although all four were drug addicts, they were not high during the killing. When a detective asked, Domenic Coia answered, “No, I was as sober as I am now. It is sick, isn’t it?”

Jason’s body was found the next day. He was so disfigured he had to be identified by the cut on his hand from work.

The Investigation and Arrests

Philadelphia homicide detectives quickly focused on Morley after phone records and witnesses placed her with the boys. Within days, all four confessed in varying degrees.

Domenic Coia confessed in a hearing that they were all involved and that the murder was planned days before.

The jailhouse letters became infamous. Morley wrote to Domenic: “I’m a cold-blooded death-worshiping bitch who survives by feeding off the weak and lonely. I lure them, and then I crush them.” In another she wrote, “I am guilty. But I still don’t feel guilty for anything… I still enjoy my flashbacks. They give me comfort. I love them.”[expletive]

At trial she claimed she wrote those things to be accepted by the boys.

The Trials: Tried as Adults

Justina Morley
Her attorneys fought to keep her in juvenile court, citing depression, two suicide attempts by overdose the year before, and substance abuse. The judge denied it, noting she had prior treatment that failed and was a key part of the plot. If tried as juvenile, she would have been free at 21.

She pled guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for testifying against the boys, and was sentenced to 17 1/2 to 35 years in prison. She was released on parole on December 20, 2020, after serving 17 years. She is now 36 and living under supervision in Pennsylvania.

The Boys
Domenic Coia, Nicholas Coia, and Edward Batzig Jr. were charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, robbery and possessing an instrument of crime. All were tried together as adults in 2004-2005.

Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against Domenic Coia (who was almost 18). During trial, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that defendants under 18 could not be executed. As a result, all three faced mandatory life without parole.

Their defense — that drug addiction meant they lacked intent for first-degree murder — collapsed when their confessions were read. Domenic had told police: “We just kept hitting and hitting him… We took Sweeney’s wallet and split up the money, and we partied beyond redemption.” He also said, “It was like we were all happy what we did.”[with]

In May 2005, the Coia brothers and Batzig were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole, plus 22 1/2 to 45 years for the other charges.

None showed remorse. At sentencing, Paul Sweeney told Domenic, “I know you think you have evil eyes but mine are going to be staring back at you every night for the rest of your life.” Domenic replied, “I never thought I had evil eyes. But other than that, I’m cool.” The judge called it “a totally depraved act” with “a level of inhumanity that exists in these facts.”

Resentencing Battles

In 2012, Miller v. Alabama banned mandatory life without parole for juveniles. Because Batzig and Nicholas Coia had appeals pending, they got resentencing hearings.

On February 19, 2015, Judge Sandy L. V. Byrd resentenced Nicholas Coia to life without parole again, stating: “This is an uncommon case, there are no factors which remove the defendant from the punishment of life in prison without parole. Not only did he plan the assault, but he participated in the assault which was so violent that Jason Sweeney had to be identified with dental records.”

Batzig’s resentencing also resulted in life without parole. Domenic Coia, whose appeal was final, remains on mandatory life without parole under Pennsylvania law.

The Jason Sweeney Foundation

Paul and Dawn Sweeney created the Jason Keel Sweeney Foundation to fund a full scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy and College — the school Jason dreamed of attending to become a Navy SEAL. He had been accepted but could not afford tuition. The foundation has since sent multiple Fishtown students to military school in his name.

In Popular Culture

The case received national coverage due to the ages and brutality:

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 4 episode “Coming of Rage” (2003) is based on the crime
• Kevin Colden’s 2008 Eisner-nominated graphic novel Fishtown
• Lifetime’s Killer Kids “Foul Ball and Framed” (2012)
• Investigation Discovery’s Murder Among Friends “Friend Fatale” (2016)
• HBO Max / Discovery+ Deadliest Kids Season 1 Episode 3 “The Murder of Jason Sweeney” (2021), featuring Jason’s sister for the first time

Jason Sweeney Video