A man accused of killing “Bridalplasty” contestant Lisa Marie Naegle was found guilty Monday of one count of first-degree murder in Naegle’s death, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.
Jackie Jerome Rogers, 34, was found guilty of killing Naegle with a hammer and burying her body in his backyard, the D.A.’s office said.
Rogers, who is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 25, faces a maximum possible sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.
In addition to the murder count, the judge in the case also found true a special accusation that the defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a hammer, during the commission of the crime.
According to prosecutors, Rogers killed Naegle, 36, by beating her at least eight times with a hammer as they sat in his car on Dec. 18, 2016. Evidence presented in court indicated that Rogers then took her back to his home, buried her in his backyard and hit her two more times with the hammer to ensure she was dead before covering her body with dirt and manure.
Naegle went missing in December 2016, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. She was reportedly attending a birthday party at the Alpine Village Restaurant in Torrance, California, on Saturday night and did not return home. She also did not show up to her job as a nurse the following day.
Naegle’s husband Derek Harryman told KTLA that his wife sounded drunk when they spoke on the phone and that he and her family looked at security camera footage from the restaurant. “There’s video footage that was just discovered from Alpine Village within the last hour showing my wife getting into a black SUV,” Harryman said.
Rogers was arrested shortly thereafter. According to TMZ, Rogers confessed to killing Naegle with a hammer and burying her in his backyard in Inglewood, California.