Woman describes killing man with hammer, testifies that he molested her for years as a child<\/a><\/p>\nMcGrew was arrested that same day in connection with the discovery and charged with murder and concealing evidence. <\/p>\n
McGrew originally pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. She later changed her plea to guilty in December 2025, and has been awaiting sentencing ever since.<\/p>\n
McGrew\u2019s mother takes the stand, reads statements from family<\/p>\n
On July 31, McGrew\u2019s mother, Jennifer Owens, took the stand and read prepared statements from McGrew\u2019s brothers who could not attend in person. They described McGrew as a gentle person who has shown care for others and never hesitated to help.<\/p>\n
Her older brother, Victor McGrew, who she was living with at the time of the incident, said that Journee McGrew was motivated and goal-oriented and was passionate about becoming a dental assistant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conversations were always about getting ahead in life. Being a strong individual and conquering her mental health struggles. She was here with me and would always tell me about her dreams and aspirations and all the things she wanted to do in life,\u201d Victor McGrew said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n
He also said he watched over her because he knew how vulnerable she is.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the absolute last thing I would expect for my sister,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cI knew that she was struggling with her mental health. People have assaulted her, took advantage of her vulnerability and it took a toll on her mind. I\u2019m in no way trying to justify her actions. I urge the court to consider the things she struggled with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owens said her daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia disorder, bipolar disorder and PTSD and witnessed her get treatment for it.<\/p>\n
The state argued that McGrew didn\u2019t tell her mother about the alleged abuse until 2024, and they never went to the police about it.<\/p>\n
Dr. Kathrin Ritter is a clinical neuropsychologist who helped treat McGrew. She talked about how the multiple disorders may have affected her decision-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time of the event, she maintained some understanding, but her judgment, her ability to regulate her behavior, her ability to manage impulses, her threat perception, her ability to think and reason through consequences of behavior. All of that was significantly diminished,\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n
State recommends life sentence<\/p>\n
The state recommended a life sentence for McGrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcGrew decided last year to be judge, jury, and executioner. She decided she was going to take the law into her own hands. She decided to be a vigilante, to be retaliatory and to impose a sentence,\u201d the state said.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said that McGrew didn\u2019t call the police about the abuse, but she told her family years later. She also argued that because of her conditions, she needs to be under constant medication and the only way for her to do that is to be incarcerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has indicated that when she feels paranoid and delusional, this defendant responds in acts of violence,\u201d the prosecutor said. \u201cAny sort of probation or community release that allows her to go off of her medication allows her to become a danger to the public at large.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defense recommends reasonable sentence to be released<\/p>\n
The defense said that because of her mental conditions and Ritter\u2019s testimony that McGrew\u2019s thought process was disorganized because of them, the court should consider a reasonable sentence so that she can continue treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer cognitive reasoning was impaired to the point where it affected her decision making in this case [Ritter] describes her behavior as self-preservation due to those delusions and due to her diseases,\u201d the defense said.<\/p>\n
Her lawyer said that she is currently being treated while she\u2019s in jail and should be offered an opportunity to re-enter society.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has an opportunity to heal from the illness in part, that Mr. Woodley caused her and because of that I\u2019m just asking this court to sentence Ms. McGrew to a reasonable sentence where she will have the opportunity to be released.\u201d<\/p>\n
What she claims<\/p>\n
McGrew testified during a sentencing hearing in April that she was diagnosed with psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder when she was Baker Acted before the murder.<\/p>\n
Watch her full testimony below: <\/p>\n
McGrew said she hit Woodley multiple times with a hammer after she lured him to her apartment by saying she wanted to have sex. <\/p>\n
McGrew said it wasn\u2019t her plan to have sex or to kill Woodley, but instead to collect evidence of his alleged abuse that could be used against him. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not supposed to happen. I really wasn\u2019t in my right mind when this happened. I\u2019m not violent, and I\u2019m sorry for this situation,\u201d she said in a message to the courtroom.<\/p>\n
Mugshot of Journee Denaisha McGrew, 21. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Woodley\u2019s mother spoke on behalf of her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything changed in a second when your only son has been murdered,\u201d his mother said in court. \u201cYes, this has affected my family, my daughter, my granddaughter […] We don\u2019t know how to cope.\u201d<\/p>\n
When McGrew was asked if she had a message for the family, she responded: <\/p>\n
\u201cI am sorry about what I did,\u201d McGrew said. \u201cI know how much I impacted your family and mine. I\u2019m really sorry for what happened.\u201d <\/p>\n
The killing<\/p>\n
According to her arrest report, Jacksonville police were called to the Cross Creek Apartment complex on July 2, 2025, about a dispute. <\/p>\n
When officers arrived, they found Woodley suffering from what appeared to be blunt force trauma to his head and face. Woodley was lying on the ground in front of McGrew\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
JSO investigating the death of Waduta Londrell Woodley, 41, at a Jacksonville apartment complex. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
According to the arrest report, Woodley had a white piece of paper on his chest that read, \u201cPEDO Touches Children.\u201d The writing was in green ink from a green highlighter. <\/p>\n
Officers ordered McGrew to come out of her apartment, and she complied. As she was being detained, the report said she asked if Woodley was still alive.<\/p>\n
After a search warrant was obtained for McGrew\u2019s apartment, police went inside and found bloody footprints leading from the front door to the bathroom. <\/p>\n
According to the arrest report, when officers entered McGrew\u2019s bathroom, they found a metal hammer in the sink. Officers discovered blood on the hammer\u2019s handle. The sink drain plug was later found in McGrew\u2019s bedroom. The arrest report states that the liquid found on the drain plug tested positive for blood. <\/p>\n
The arrest report also states that police found a pair of pink Crocs slippers covered in blood, along with a tank top and a pair of pants that were also covered in blood. The search also turned up a notebook with loose paper and a green highlighter. <\/p>\n
McGrew told investigators that Woodley had been sexually grooming her since she was 8 years old and had sexually assaulted her multiple times, the report said. <\/p>\n
The report went on to say that on July 1, she sent Woodley a text, saying that she had been sexually fantasizing about him and regretted treating him poorly. That night, she invited him to her apartment, according to the report.<\/p>\n
McGrew told police that by 1 a.m., Woodley pressured her to have sex, which she denied him and asked him to leave. She said as they were leaving the room toward the front entrance, she grabbed a hammer and hid it behind her back.<\/p>\n
The report said that when the two got to the front doorway, Woodley grabbed her in a non-forceful manner, and that\u2019s when she began hitting him with the hammer.<\/p>\n
Police asked her if she had invited Woodley over with plans to kill him, but her response was redacted from the arrest report.<\/p>\n
News4JAX conducted a criminal background check on Woodley and could not find any criminal offenses related to sexually assaulting or abusing children.<\/p>\n
McGrew said she never reported the alleged abuse because she lived with Woodley and feared being kicked out. She also testified she told friends when she was young, but didn\u2019t share with her family or doctors until she was in her 20s.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville woman who pleaded guilty in the gruesome murder of a 41-year-old man she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,346581,451,14310,22264,3,452,453,346582],"class_list":["post-816904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cross-creek-apartment-complex","tag-headlines","tag-jacksonville","tag-jso","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-waduta-woodley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}