Dupage Policy Journal

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced that a woman and her son have been sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections for their roles in the murder and armed robbery of Naperville resident Michael Armendariz. Ernest Collins, 28, and his mother Candice Jones, 44, were sentenced by Judge Michael Reidy. Collins received seventy years for murder and twenty-eight years for armed robbery. Jones was sentenced to forty years for murder and twenty-one years for armed robbery.

Collins was found guilty on September 29, 2023, after a four-day trial. A different jury found Jones guilty on October 27, 2023. Both have been in custody since February 9, 2019, when bond was denied.

Cassandra Green, another individual involved in the crime, pleaded guilty to armed robbery with a firearm on August 19, 2022. She was sentenced to twenty-one years on November 13, 2023.

The incident began on January 18, 2018, when Naperville police responded to a missing person report for Armendariz. An investigation revealed that Collins, Jones, and Green planned to rob Armendariz at gunpoint. On January 14, Armendariz left his apartment after receiving a Snapchat message from Green and got into her vehicle. Collins then shot him twice in the head from the backseat.

Armendariz's body was hidden with Jones' assistance before being moved next door to her residence. The following day Collins and Green burglarized Armendariz's apartment using his keys.

Authorities apprehended all three suspects by February 6, 2019. "Working together," Berlin stated about the defendants' actions as an "evil" plot against Armendariz.

Berlin thanked local police departments and Assistant State’s Attorneys Helen Kapas, Amanda Meindl and Michael Paup for their work on this case.

Both Collins' and Jones' sentences will be served concurrently without parole eligibility until completion.