Man receives life sentence for murder at Midland hotel

MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) -Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf announced that a 27-year-old Killeen man was sentenced by a Midland jury on Thursday to life in prison.

Javon Devontae Elliston was found guilty of murder, tampering with a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

The evidence presented in the case showed that on Feb. 6, 2022, Midland Police Department officers were called out to the Wyndham Garden Inn in reference to a body found stripped of all his clothes and the bed stripped of bedding.  The people in the room next door stated they heard a fight around 2 a.m. with a man yelling, “Help me! He’s going to kill me!”  They then heard a choking sound fade out.

Police looked at the surveillance videos from the hotel and located a man with neck tattoos dressed all in black wearing gray house shoes follow the victim to his room.  This man was also seen on surveillance videos waiting in the lobby of the hotel for over an hour before going back to wander the hallways.  He was seen leaving the victim’s room at around 5:50 a.m. with a bundle of bedding in the hall.  The man was wearing the victim’s jacket and carrying what appeared to be two pillowcases full of the victim’s personal items.

Elliston was found through a Crime Stoppers tip and a former girlfriend. The defendant testified that it was not him on the videos and the women who identified him was lying because he had turned down their romantic advances.

Evidence was presented during the trial that he had previously been convicted of Aggravated Robbery in 2011.

During the trial, the former girlfriend testified that Elliston had been abusive throughout the relationship.  Additionally, a corporal at the Midland County Detention Center testified the night after the guilty verdict was read, the defendant returned to the jail, assaulted a jailer, and spat on another.

He testified that Elliston made threats to “stack bodies,” and act up every day until he was sent to prison.  After the defendant was sentenced and the victim impact statements were read, Elliston started to yell obscenities at the victim’s family in the courtroom.

His minimum punishment for Murder was 15 years.  The punishment range for tampering with a corpse increased to 5 to 99 years or life in prison and tampering with evidence to 2 to 20 years.  The jury also assessed the maximum fine of $10,000 for each charge.