A Starke, Florida woman will spend the next century behind bars after admitting to gunning down her children’s father in front of daycare staff and other kids last year.
Mindy Osteen, 35, was sentenced to 100 years in prison this week after pleading guilty to second-degree murder along with several weapons and firearm-related charges tied to the July 2025 killing, according to court records from Bradford County.
According to the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office, Osteen opened fire on Christopher Jones with a 9 mm handgun as he arrived to pick up their children from Auntie Lili’s Daycare, roughly 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville. Investigators say she had concealed the weapon, an Arex Delta 9 mm pistol, inside a backpack before approaching him in the parking lot.
Per the arrest report, Osteen told Jones “you got to die” as she fired, and reportedly asked for the “monster” to die during the attack. Deputies say she fired a total of five rounds — three shots, followed by two more after briefly stepping back — while Jones was seated in the driver’s seat of his vehicle with the door open.
At least six children and two daycare employees were reportedly present inside the facility when the shooting occurred during evening pickup hours.
Responding deputies arrived to find Jones identifying Osteen as the shooter before he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Osteen reportedly remained at the scene and told officers she had acted in self-defense.
She was initially booked on charges including first-degree murder, child cruelty, weapons possession, and larceny. Under her plea agreement, Osteen was convicted of second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and grand theft of a firearm.