ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — A man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Friday in connection with the 2021 death of a woman whose body was found in a storage unit in Adams County.
Gregory Thomas, 38, pleaded guilty in connection with the death of 21-year-old Lavanya Jain.
Jain was found dead in May 2021. Court records indicate she was killed in March of that year.
According to the arrest affidavit in the case, Adams County Sheriff's Office detectives tracked Thomas to Lynden, Washington. He was taken into custody on a parole violation, the affidavit says. Thomas was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to felony identity theft in 2015, according to court records.
Detectives interviewed Thomas and he told them he had met Jain in late 2020 through an escort website, the affidavit says. Thomas told detectives Jain made him an offer to partner up to commit white-collar crimes, the affidavit says.
Thomas said Jain began staying at his house and wanted him to "take care" of people who wronged her, the affidavit says.
Thomas said on March 19, he went to the basement where he was staying and Jain was sitting on the couch, the affidavit says. Thomas said Jain pulled a gun from under a pillow and pointed it at him, the affidavit says. He said he thought Jain was going to shoot him so he pulled a gun from his waistband and shot her multiple times, the affidavit says.
Thomas said he wrapped Jain's body in a blanket, hid her body in his bedroom and then went for a drive to figure out what he needed to do, the affidavit says. He told investigators he went to a Home Depot to buy a trash can and then rented a storage unit on March 23 at FreeUp Storage located at 8700 Devonshire Blvd., the affidavit says.
Thomas said he put Jain's body in the trash can, taped it up and put the trash can in the storage unit, the affidavit says.
On May 19, an employee at FreeUp called deputies because of a "terrible smell" and a liquid that was coming from a unit that had been rented to Thomas, according to the affidavit.
A staff member entered the unit and found Jain's body the next day, according to the affidavit.
Thomas is set to be sentenced on Aug. 17.
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