NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Ronnie Phillips, 70, was handed an automatic life sentence Wednesday after a jury found him guilty of murdering a woman in Donelson and kidnapping his girlfriend.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, on July 19, 2022, Phillips spent the day with his 31-year-old girlfriend and her aunt, Christine Estok, before they all returned to his house in the 200 block of Barker Road. Estok slept on a sofa in the den while Phillips and the 31-year-old woman went to sleep in a bedroom, officials said.
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The 31-year-old woman reportedly awoke the next morning to find Estok dead on the sofa with a gunshot wound to the head. She told investigators that Phillips admitted to shooting Estok because he believed her aunt was trying to introduce her to another man.
The District Attorney’s Office said he threatened his girlfriend with a gun and a taser, but agreed not to harm her if she told authorities that Estok had died by suicide. He then staged the crime scene so it appeared that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted and called emergency services.
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When authorities arrived, the 31-year-old woman informed them that Phillips had killed her aunt…