PHOENIX (AZ Family) — A man will spend more than three decades behind bars for killing and dismembering a Phoenix man over a monetary dispute two years ago.

John Anthony Cole, 48, of Tucson, was sentenced to 31 years in prison late last month for the murder of Antoine Smith.

In September 2022, Smith was reported missing after court documents said he sent a text message to his friends telling them that Cole had kidnapped him to collect a debt from one of his roommates. Documents say Smith told his girlfriend he was scared and shared his location, which showed he was traveling on Interstate 10 in Chandler.

The roommate later shared Cole’s phone number and Tucson address with Smith’s girlfriend. Phoenix police became involved in the reported kidnapping and spoke with Smith’s other roommate, who said Cole called him and told him he would kill Smith if he didn’t get his money back.

Tucson police conducted a welfare check at Cole’s home. No one was there, but officers found cleaning supplies and a blood-stained shovel.

The documents say police accessed phone records that show Cole was traveling near the Arizona-California border. DPS officers were notified and detained Cole near Quartzsite. Inside the vehicle, agents found human remains.

After his arrest, Cole allegedly told police that Smith attacked him when they stopped to go to the bathroom on I-10 and that he strangled him to death in self-defense. Cole then reportedly took the body to his home in Tucson and purchased several cleaning supplies to dismember the remains.

Cole also took investigators to a rural area south of Tucson, where he had dumped some of Smith’s other remains.

Earlier this year, Cole pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated assault and abandoning or concealing a corpse.

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