Lexington County, SC (WLTX) - Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty says a father accused of killing his five children will face murder charges as soon as he's brought back to South Carolina.
McCarty updated the public Wednesday morning on the investigation into 32-year-old Timothy Ray Jones Jr., calling it unprecedented in his decades of law enforcement experience.
"I've never seen a case like this," McCarty said. "We all see things in our career that have an impact on you. This case has impacted anyone...who's had anything to do with this."
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley issued a statement echoing those thoughts.
"There are few moments that truly shock our conscience," Haley said "The last 48 hours in South Carolina have done that, first with the shooting of two of our brave law enforcement officers, and then to see five babies brutally murdered. These events bring a sadness like no other. We grieve together for our lost ones, and we pray together for those touched by these horrific tragedies."
Smith County, MS sheriff's officials say Jones waived his right to an extradition hearing, paving the way for him to be brought back to South Carolina late Wednesday.
The children's bodies have already been brought back to the state. McCarthy said he won't release the names until an autopsy is performed, which will also determine exactly how the children died.
Family members, however, identify the children to News19 as Elaine, Nathan, Gabriel, Eli, and Merah Jones.
Sheriff McCarty said he has spoken to the children's mother over the course of the investigation, who he says is in shock and distraught.
"I don't think that there's a person in this room that could speak to the mother of her children and not be emotional," McCarty said.
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The remains of his children--ages one to eight---were found Tuesday afternoon in Wilcox County, Alabama.
Jones was arrested last Saturday in Smith County, Mississippi after he was detained at a traffic checkpoint. McCarty said Jones is a Mississippi State graduate whose father lives in that state, which explains why he may have been traveling there.
Deputies there reported that during the arrest, Jones seemed to be under the influence. When they searched his SUV, they found what they believed were chemicals used to make meth and a synthetic form of marijuana, and what appeared to be bleach, muriatic acid and blood.
McCarthy says children's clothes were also discovered.
Investigators have released new details of a timeline of the events leading up to the stop. On August 28th--the last day anyone saw the children alive--Smith picked the kids up from school and daycare. On August 29th and September 2nd, the childrens' school noticed they were absent from class. The children's mother, who's divorced from Jones, says she couldn't contact her husband, and on September 3rd, she filed a missing person's report.
McCarty said this was not the first time the mother has had difficulty reaching her ex-husband, which was among the factors that led law enforcement to hold off on issuing an Amber Alert. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel also said that the children were believed to be with their primary guardian, Jones, which also was another reason why the alert wasn't sent.
McCarty believes the children were killed early on, likely in Lexington County. Jones apparently then went on a wandering, multi-state journey that took him to North Carolina, the towns of Lake City and Orangeburg in South Carolina, and Athens, Georgia. He then left South Carolina, stopping first in Alabama to dispose of the bodies, McCarty says, and finally on to Mississippi.
On Monday night, Smith County, Mississippi Sheriff Charlie Crumpton says Jones confessed to killing the children. McCarty described Smith as being "calm" as he led investigators to a dirt road near Camden, Alabama, where investigators found the children's remains in five separate garbage bags.
Crime scene investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division and the Lexington County Sheriff's Department have gone to Alabama to process that crime scene.
McCarty says Jones has not revealed a motive. The suspect will be housed at the South Carolina Department of Corrections, and not the Lexington County Jail, because they have concerns about his safety being house locally.
During the news conference, investigators also revealed that the South Carolina Department of Social Service had gotten an abuse report about Smith and the children back on August 7th. DSS and Lexington deputies investigated the claim, and found nothing to alarm them immediately. The case was still open and was being investigated.
