Witness accounts, forensic testing and a recovered storage bin underpin the judge’s bindover ruling.
DETROIT — A Wayne County judge bound Jalen Pendergrass and his mother, Charla Pendergrass, over for trial on first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old London Thomas, adding unlawful imprisonment and evidence tampering after a multi-hour preliminary hearing this week.
The ruling marks a turn in a case that began as a missing-person search last spring and grew into a homicide investigation spanning Inkster, Detroit and Southfield. Prosecutors say Thomas disappeared on April 5, 2025, after being dropped at the Pendergrass home, and was found on April 26 inside a plastic tote in the back of a parked SUV in Southfield. With the upgraded counts, the case heads to circuit court, where a trial date will be set and motions argued over disputed testimony and forensic testing. If convicted of first-degree murder, each defendant faces a mandatory life sentence.
In court, the state sketched a tight timeline: Thomas arrived at the Carlysle Street home before dawn on April 5; communication stopped soon after; friends and relatives raised alarms; and, weeks later, a man contacted authorities about a sealed tote he said Charla had asked him to keep and later discard. Police searched the SUV he had left at a friend’s Southfield address and found Thomas bound and bruised inside the bin. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by asphyxia. Investigators also told the judge that DNA consistent with Jalen was likely detected on the tote’s handles.
A former girlfriend of Jalen testified that after Thomas vanished he sent her lyrics about hiding a body and, in separate conversations, described choking Thomas after a fight in his bedroom. She said he told her his mother told him to get angry and to kill Thomas. Defense attorney Terry L. Johnson questioned the witness’s reliability, noting she had used drugs around the time of the alleged admissions and arguing that her account conflicted with autopsy details. The judge allowed the testimony for probable-cause purposes, saying the total record supported sending the case to trial.
The defendants were first charged in October with second-degree murder and evidence tampering after investigators re-interviewed witnesses and reviewed phone data. Prosecutors now allege unlawful imprisonment based on the circumstances in the room and the condition in which Thomas was found. They describe Charla’s actions as directing concealment and pressuring others to remove or burn potential evidence. The defense has signaled it will seek to exclude statements, challenge the forensic interpretations and press for alternate timelines, arguing the state has overextended with upgrade requests.
Family filled the benches. “One small step toward justice,” Thomas’s mother, Jasma Bennett, said after the hearing, adding that she wanted the process to remain peaceful. Thomas’s grandmother, Jestina Martin, said the upgrade to first-degree “was good enough” for now. Sister Jaila Hatcher told the court she dropped London at the house and grew worried when calls went unanswered. Outside, stepfather Darnell Johnson said the testimony was “sickening,” especially the description of a parent allegedly directing violence toward a child.
The case now shifts to Wayne County Circuit Court for arraignment on the information, where bond, discovery and motion schedules will be addressed. Jalen has been held without bond; Charla previously received a $5 million cash bond. Prosecutors indicated additional lab reports and device records are pending and could be introduced in pretrial filings. A scheduling conference is expected soon after the file transfer, with a trial window to be determined.
As of Sunday, first-degree murder, unlawful imprisonment and evidence-tampering counts remain in place. The next key date is the circuit-court arraignment on the information, expected in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated January 25, 2026.