Man Murdered Wife in Front of Kids After She Asked for Divorce, Then Fled for 18 Months Before Dramatic Capture

A Georgia man who was convicted of murdering his wife in front of his two children has been sentenced to life behind bars.

Jonathan Bates, who evaded authorities for 18 months following his wife’s 2017 killing, was sentenced to life in prison this week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Paulding County inmate records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Bates, 45, was sentenced on Wednesday.

Bates was convicted of murdering his wife in 2017 by pushing her, causing her to fall backwards and hit her head on the edge of a couch, PEOPLE reported in April 2024, when the Georgia father of two was finally apprehended a second time after initially evading authorities. The Journal-Constitution reported this week that Bates' wife had told him she wanted a divorce the day before she was killed.

Paulding County Chief Judge Tony Beavers previously threw out the original murder charge against Bates, only seeking to convict him of battery. But then Bates skipped out on his 2022 court appearance, leading to his extended time on the lam.

His wife Cynthia’s family was enraged when the judge threw out Bates’ murder charge at first, launching an online petition that gathered more than 11,600 signatures calling for Beavers’ removal from the bench.

A grand jury would later indict Bates on murder charges, according to WSB-TV, and Beavers later recused himself from the case after it was revealed the judge had a personal connection to the suspect’s family.

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In addition to being convicted of murder in connection with his wife’s death, WSB-TV reported that Bates was also convicted on two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of child cruelty. Bates’ life sentence does allow for the possibility of parole, according to the outlet.

The Bates’ two young children, aged 4 and 7 at the time of Cynthia’s murder, were home when their mother was killed, local Fox 5 had reported. The children ran to a neighbor’s house after witnessing the incident.

"Her kids are lost without her," Bates' sister Sandy Dement told the local news channel in a 2017 interview. "Her family is lost without her. We don’t get to talk to her anymore."

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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