Man Convicted of Killing Pregnant Ex, 16-Year-Old Teen at Dayton Home Because He Couldn’t See Her in Relationship with Anyone Else

A jury has found a 33-year-old man guilty of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and a 16-year-old boy out of jealousy.

Nicole “Nico” Cunigan Jr. faced a dozen counts, including four counts of murder and two of felonious assault in the deaths of Deante Johnson, 16, Precious Taste, 32, and Taste’s unborn child in May 2024.

Cunigan Became Obsessed with Taste After They Broke Up

On May 22, 2024, at around 6 a.m., Cunigan busted into Taste’s Dayton home with her children inside the house and gunned down Taste and Johnson, who was her family friend.

According to prosecutors, Cunigan shot Taste to death as she made her way down the stairs while Johnson was found dead in a bed under some covers. An adult and Taste’s then-4-year-old twins were in the home at the time but not physically injured. After the shooting, Cunigan was on the run until his arrest two months later in Cleveland.

Taste was about four months pregnant but the relationship with Cunigan had soured. After they broke up, Cunigan became obsessive, prosecutors said.

‘I’m Watching Your Every Movement. You Better Not Touch Anyone Else’

Cunigan also sent a slew of texts to Taste that were threatening in nature. “I’m watching your every movement. You better not touch anyone else,'” Cunigan wrote in one of the text messages. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Schoen said during closing arguments.

Johnson’s family was left devastated, especially since he had nothing to do with the beef between Cunigan and Taste.

“Why go after a 16-year-old that you didn’t even know?” his mother Jennifer Louis said in an interview about two weeks after the shooting. “… People will never be the same anymore, we won’t. We can try to make it better, but we will never be the same.”

After the verdict, Taste’s mother had tears streaming down her face. She said she was happy she received justice, but it doesn’t bring her daughter back.

“The kids still don’t have a mother so it’s been very rough,” she told a local TV station.

Cunigan is slated to be sentenced on Aug. 29.