Jill Coit

Biography Coit was born Jill Lonita Billiot in Lafitte, Louisiana; she grew up in New Orleans. She is of Native American descent.

William Clark Coit, Jr. Coit married engineer William Clark Coit, Jr. in January 1966 in Louisiana, while still legally married to Moore. The couple had two children, William Andrew Coit (called Andrew) and William Coit III.

Coit briefly married for a ninth time before entering into a relationship with Michael Backus and convinced him to help her murder Boggs. In October 1993, they acted on their plot. Wearing a disguise which included a false mustache, Coit and Backus broke into Boggs's home. They shocked him with a stun gun, and ultimately murdered him using a .25 caliber pistol, later fleeing to Mexico.

Police quickly centered on Coit as a suspect. After she confided to her younger son Seth about the murder and asked for his help in covering it up, he instead went to the police. She was arrested in December 1993, during a visit from Mexico. Subsequent investigation, as well as testimony at her 1995 trial, revealed that she began making plans to murder Boggs as early as the summer of 1993, going as far as to solicit several people to come to Colorado and kill him. His subsequent appeal was rejected.

Coit is currently serving her sentence at Denver Women's Correctional Facility. All of her appeals have been exhausted. In 2026, she applied for clemency.

In media Books The 1995 book Charmed to Death, by author Stephen Singular tells the story of Jill Coit's conviction for killing her husband, Gerry Boggs, and depicts her long history of bigamy and embezzlement. The 1995 book Poisoned Vows, by investigative journalist and true crime author Clifford L. Linedecker, is a biography of Coit and her criminal activities.

Television Coit was portrayed by Bonnie Bedelia in the Fox made-for-television film Legacy of Sin: The William Coit Story (1995). Coit's story is told from the point of view of her son William Coit III (played by Neil Patrick Harris). The movie is based on the Stephen Singular book Charmed to Death.

Coit's exploits have been recounted by several true-crime documentary television series:

Forensic Files, episode "Order Up" (season 8, episode 12), first aired in 2004. American Justice episode "Serial Wife" (season 13, episode 28), first aired in 2004 on the A&E Television Network. Host Bill Kurtis interviews prosecution and defense attorneys as well as reporters. The New Detectives episode "True Crime" (season 4, episode 14), aired in 1999. Deadly Women, episode "Fortune Hunters" (season 4, episode 3), first aired in 2010 on Investigation Discovery. Facing Evil with Candice DeLong, episode "The Black Widow Bride" (season 2, episode 5), first aired in 2011 on Investigation Discovery. Host Candice DeLong interviews Jill Coit in prison.