Puyallup Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2017 Murder

SANDPOINT, ID - Former Puyallup resident Jacob Coleman on Thursday was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 22-year-old Gagandeep Singh. In November 2018, Coleman, 21, pleaded guilty to stabbing Singh to death during a taxi ride that began in Spokane and ended in Kootenai, Idaho, in August 2017.

Coleman, then 19 years old, flew to Spokane from Puyallup with the intention of attending college at Gonzaga University. However, when Coleman arrived at the Housing and Residence Life Office on campus, officials there told him he was not enrolled and had to leave.

As previously reported on Patch by Washington Editor Neal McNamara:

After he left Gonzaga, Coleman allegedly began having "homicidal thoughts," police said. Coleman traveled to the Spokane International Airport, which is where he got into a cab driven by (Singh) of Spokane Valley. Coleman then apparently asked to be driven to northern Idaho near the city of Sandpoint.

When the cab reached the city of Ponderay, which is northeast of Sandpoint, Coleman asked (Singh) to stop at a store. Coleman went into the store and purchased a knife, police said. Coleman later allegedly told police that his homicidal thoughts were only getting more intense as the cab ride wore on.

Singh then drove to Kootenai, the next town over from Ponderay, where Coleman allegedly stabbed Singh and then left the cab. Singh's family, who noticed he was gone for a long time, tried to contact him. A police officer eventually located Singh's cab, but he had already died.

Coleman was later arrested in Bonner County without incident, the sheriff's office reported. Kootenai is about 80 miles from where Coleman allegedly first contacted the cab at the Spokane International Airport.

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Image via Bonner County Sheriff's Office