Jill Coit

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Jill Lonita Coit (born Jill Lonita Billiot on June 11, 1943, in Lafitte, Louisiana; some sources list 1944) is an American convicted murderer, con artist, and serial bigamist who has been married to nine men in 11 marriages since 1961. She is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for the 1993 murder of her eighth husband, Gerald Boggs, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and she is also suspected of killing her third husband, William Clark Coit Jr., in 1972.

Coit’s early life was described as normal and she was popular at school. She dropped out in 1961 to marry her first husband and over the years engaged in various scams to steal money and property, including fake pregnancies, mortgage fraud, and inheritance schemes. She moved around the United States, often marrying men for financial gain.

The October 1993 murder of Boggs occurred after Coit, with her then-boyfriend Michael Backus, wore a disguise, shocked him with a stun gun, and then shot him with a pistol. They fled to Mexico but were arrested in December 1993. At a 1995 trial, Coit was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life without parole plus 47 years; Backus was convicted as well.

Coit is currently imprisoned at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (DOC 86530). Her case has been the subject of TV programs and a book, and was portrayed in the 1995 film Legacy of Sin: The William Coit Story.