CONVERSE, Ind. — Two hundred dollars was not only worth a man's life to Benjamin Jones, it was worth serving the next 45 years in prison.
In late 2021, Jones and his three associates kicked in the door of Anthony Leadford and gunned him down in the presence of Leadford's girlfriend and her two small children — all over a $200 drug debt which Leadford repeatedly told Jones he didn't have.
Jones was 18 years old when he decided his course of action should be killing the 23-year-old Leadford. Jones was accompanied by 19-year-old Aryan Vandiver-Stone and two juveniles when they stormed into the apartment.
Vandiver-Stone later told detectives they spared Leadford's girlfriend because they didn’t shoot “mommies with babies.”
But they did cross that line for $200.
According to court documents, Leadford's girlfriend told police that Jones had been harassing Leadford over the $200 he owed. Jones even came to the apartment two hours before the fatal shooting in an attempt to get Leadford to pay up.
Leadford told Jones through the door he didn't have the money and Jones warned Leadford he would be back.
Around 10 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2021, Jones returned with his crew and kicked in the door. The teens looted the apartment and then gunned down Leadford in the bedroom before fleeing — the presence of two small children did not sway them from fatally pulling the trigger.
On Sept. 3, Jones pleaded guilty to murder and was handed down a 45-year sentence.
In May, Vandiver-Stone entered a guilty plea to one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 2 felony, which can carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
Vandiver-Stone will be sentenced on Sept. 12.
The identities of the two juveniles, aged 15 and 16 at the time of the incident, were never released by police.