LEXINGTON, S.C. — It was Day 3 of the the murder trial of Timothy Jones Jr., the South Carolina man accused of killing his five children back in 2014. He's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, while prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
On Thursday, the second day of witness testimony, the state’s first witness was Stacy Jones, a former forensic scientist, specializing in crime scene analysis in Mississippi.
Jones assisted Smith County Sheriff’s Department in processing Timothy Jones’ Escalade on Sept. 7, 2014, the morning after his arrest.
Stacy Jones began by explaining the evidence-gathering process: after impounding the SUV on Sept. 6, law enforcement first lowered windows in vehicle because of the strong chemical smell, then the vehicle was secured in a building in Smith County until her arrival at 8 am next morning.
Jones began her discovery process by documenting the vehicle through photographing it as it sat unopened in the building and then began actual processing evidence inside: first by photography and then by physical collection.
Photos taken by Jones, as well as those taken later by Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, of items found in vehicle are entered into evidence.
The next step was a visual exam to look for stains of any kind. The SUV had a light layer of dust throughout. Jones tries to make sure her first forensics exam does not contaminate the second exam, or any to come after, by taking the smallest samples necessary for testing.
Upon opening the SUV, Stacy Jones described the smell as decomposition of “old blood” and chemical smells combined together.
“It almost burned nostrils to work inside,” she said.
“A lot of items stacked in boxes, and buckets, and bags.”
Once exterior of the SUV was photographed, shots of the interior were taken.
A photo taken of the interior from the driver’s side front seat shows the center console was open and a box on passenger seat. The box contained a clipboard, items of clothing; there was a bottle of bleach in passenger floorboard.
The clipboard found in the box had papers attached to it.
One of those papers had a series of handwritten lists attached. On a single page was scribbled these lists:
“Head to campground
Melt bodies!
Saw & bones to dust or small pieces ((scribbled writing)) sanitation plant”
Another list begins:
Loose ends
Terry
Christian
Jimmy (Intel)
SG5
BG
Pediatrician
Amber
((scribbled writing))
A third list:
“1. Fidelity
Day one burn up bodies
Day two sand down bones”
And further down the page:
“BILLS
TWC
SCEG
Post office
Car
Bank accounts
Tattoo
Glasses
((scribbled writing))
Hunting gear”
A photo of the driver side back door shows a bag and Clorox wipes, bottle of water, some reddish stains on carpet; back seat has plastic bag, blue bucket containing trash bags and gas containers, fold-up silver sun screen window protector, and cardboard box.
From drivers side rear door, into third row seat shows more boxes.
"There were a lot of items stacked in boxes, and buckets, and bags," she said.
Hatchback photos shows multiple bottles of lighter fluid, an empty bottle labeled “muriatic acid,” and a diaper box being used to hold other items.
- Social Security cards and birth certificates for Mariah, Elias, Nahtahn, Gabriel and Abigail were found in the vehicle.
- A receipt from the Augusta Road Walmart in West Columbia that shows Tim Jones made a purchase of a dust mask, 3M goggles, jab saw blades, pack of multiple saw blades, 5 gallon pail and muriatic acid on Sept 3, 2014.
As she works, Stacy Jones is trying to find the least amount of contaminated evidence during the first processing of the car.
She does a presumptive field test for blood on a stain found on the back of the center console in the Escalade. The sample tested positive so Stacy Jones collects two swabs of the stain and seals the samples for processing back at the forensic lab.
Jones continues to bag and seal other items in the SUV, including:
- A pillow with possible blood stains was found on the third row seat of the vehicle.
- A whole trash bag containing a Slim Jim wrapper and a dust mask
- A cell phone was taken into evidence from the box in the front passenger seat. The battery had been removed from the Samsung Galaxy 3 phone.
With all items removed from SUV, a photo from the drivers rear door shows bleached stains and reddish stains …what was once liquid “actually a pooling running down the track,” she said.
Stacy Jones also observes:
- In between the second and third row seats, the floorboard is covered with a large bleach stain.
- The hatchback area has a presence of what appeared to be dehydrated human tissue with hair attached. Stacy Jones boxes that piece of evidence for testing.
- In the third row seat, a black bag had two pairs of men sized shoes, three belts (one belt with broken buckle),
- An Intel ID work badge with Timothy Jones’ name and photo was found in the box on the passenger side front seat.
Stacy Jones started processing around 8 a.m. and finished processing Tim Jones’ SUV at 8 p.m. Twelve large boxes of sealed evidence were turned over to crime scene investigator Keith Sprinkle with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office — and eventually to SLED — for testing on Sept. 11. Every piece of evidence was laid out on white tables — grouped together by the area of the vehicle in which they were found — for photo documentation.
354 digital photographs were taken to document the gathered evidence.
Defense attorney Rob Madsen began by asking Stacy Jones about some of the evidence gathered: letters to Elias and Nahtahn, Mera from their mother, Tim Jones’ ex-wife Amber; a letter in what appears to be a child’s handwriting that begins “Dear Daddy, I am sorry to cause this mess…”
Another is a piece of paper labeled “How to make a nice Dashboard” with a handwritten list of steps, beginning with “How to improve?” The paper also has financial plan ideas such as “6. Save ~ 1,000 week until Mera is 13 (date = 5/15/19)”
A small silver box containing a set of cassette tapes of religious teachings, and books and CDs such as “The Smithton Outreach Revival for the Heartland” and “What’s Everybody Screaming About by Dr Phil Kidd.”
Afternoon session: Day 2
The Thursday afternoon session began as a continuation of defense attorney Rob Madsen asking Mississippi forensic specialist Stacy Jones to verify pieces of evidence as those that she collected from Tim Jones’ Escalade after he was arrested in Smith County Mississippi on Sept. 6, 2014.
The defense has organized the evidence in groups of packages.
The first piece of evidence is Tim Jones’ Mason’s (Sinclair Lodge) Bible, and Bibles belonging to Nahtahn, Elias, and Mera.
Those are followed by “A Baby is A Treasure” album will Timothy Ray Jones’ name inside, and a fourth Bible.
Another grouping includes Timothy Jones’ military discharge papers, a SC DSS pamphlet, and school pictures of the three oldest children.
Tim Jones’ diploma from Mississippi State University is entered into defense’s evidence, as it was found in the SUV.
When Jones arrived at the secured site to process the vehicle, the windows had been down, by her order, for almost 12 hours. The chemical smell was still prevalent.
ON REDIRECT, prosecutors try and prove Jones had planned the murders.
The State introduced evidence that included US Savings Bonds in $50 and $100 amounts in unopened envelopes, issued Mera, Nahtahn, and Elias; and a handwritten note scribbled on a sales flyer reading:
NEEDS
Cash
SPP
$3500 Wed?
401K\6000K ???
Clothes/ papers
4 pants/ garbage
8 socks
Underwear
2 shorts
10 shirts
((scribbled handwriting))
Camping supplies
Gas
Jug
M acid
Tent
Charcoal
Steaks
Grill
((scribbled handwriting))
((scribbled handwriting))
<<<<<<<
The second witness of the afternoon session in court was Eric Johnson, retired state trooper in Mississippi, in 2014, he was a lieutenant in the Mississippi investigative agency, the equivalent of South Carolina’s SLED.
Johnson was called by Undersecretary Patterson on Sept 6, wanting his assistance in the investigation of the missing children. Johnson then called Stacy Jones to mobilize the preservation of the SUV and the of processing the vehicle.
On the morning of Sept 7, Stacy Jones called Johnson about the SUV.
She told him that he needed to see the Escalade himself.
After being logged as evidence, Johnson took the Samsung phone that was found in the vehicle and turned it over to the FBI in the hope of finding information on the phone that would help trace the movements of Tim Jones and the possible location of his five children.
Law enforcement officials involved in the case had expressed great concern for the welfare of the children. They didn’t know if they were still alive or dead. The Walmart receipt was important to Johnson as it had items on the receipt that caused hims some concern — dust mask, jab saw and blades, muriatic acid.
Johnson made the decision to reach out to Tim Jones’ father, who resides in Amory, Mississippi, to help in the investigation.
An interview with Timothy Jones Jr, Timothy Jones Sr, Johnson and Patterson began on Sunday Sept 7 at 6 p.m. at the Smith County Courthouse, in a second floor conference room.
It was a little unorthodox but law enforcement hoped that with Jones Jr, with his father in a relaxed environment, would more readily tell the officers what had happened to the children.
Jones Jr talked to his father for a few minutes before Johnson started the formal interview.
On the witness stand, Johnson identified the original paper with the Miranda rights form that he read to Jones at the start of the interview. On the top edge of the form, Johnson wrote Jones’ name, address and phone number. Johnson also wrote down the place, date and time of the interview.
In the interview, Johnson began by reading Timothy Jones Jr his rights before asking questions. As he was advising him of his rights, Jones took the form away from Johnson and began reading in a loud voice. “Jones made it perfectly clear that he was intelligent and that he could read and comprehend,” said Johnson.
Jones then scribbled his signature at the bottom of the form.
Johnson always emphasizes the right to talk without a lawyer present and that Jones could stop talking at any point. Jones waived his rights. Johnson thought, in his opinion, that Jones was not under the influence of alcohol but was definitely coming off the influence of something. Johnson noticed that although the temperature of the room was cool, Jones was sweating profusely and, to Johnson, it looked like beads of sweat formed on every hair on Jones’ head.
According to Johnson, Jones didn’t ask for a lawyer, nor did he ask to speak to his father alone.
Johnson testified that Jones Jr and Jones Sr were in a dialog most of the time and the officers in the room would interject with some questions and take notes. Jones went from one extreme of being very loud tone minute o being very soft spoken the next.
Jones said “Cindy put voices in his head.,” and “Cindy put this poison in me.”
Johnson found out later that Cindy was Jones’ mother who had been institutionalized.
According to testimony, Jones raved “The only way to fix me is to kill me,”
“After Amber left me, it just came out of me I couldn’t control it.”
“I left the children for a reason and I will never go back to them.”
“When I tell you (where the kids are) I’m going to hang myself.”
Johnson said that Jones told them that he put the children out along the road; Nahtahn would kill him and feed him to the dogs; that he had pushed them out of the vehicle between his house and Walmart.
When asked about the purchase of the muriatic acid, Jones said it was something he used in building computer boards.
Jones Sr asked his son if he had hurt the kids and Jones Jr blurted out “YES,” then said “No.”
According to Johnson’s testimony, Jones went from “Oh God what did I do?” to saying he didn’t want to see the kids again; at one point Jones held out his hands out in a choking manor to his dad’s neck.
On Sept. 8, Jones was interviewed again. Although he was not present during that interview, after the interview, Johnson was in an adjacent room and overheard Jones say to his father that he was sorry for what he did to the children and there was no way that his father would love him now. Jones admitted to killing the children in South Carolina.
Father and son talked about a memorial service for the five children and Jones Sr said that he would get his son the help he needed, mentally, and hire a lawyer for him.
[Timothy Jones Sr never hired a lawyer, Jones Jr is represented by a public defender]
On Sept. 9, Jones was Mirandized again, using an identical Miranda form.
This day, according to Johnson, Jones seemed normal and did not appear to be under the influence as he had been two days earlier. He agreed to show authorities where he had left the children.
In the custody of Smith County Sheriff’s Department, Jones directed a caravan of police vehicles to Alabama. It was about 200 mile journey, “a bit deeper into Alabama than we expected,” said Johnson.
The convoy took only one misguided turn, toward the end of the trip. Jones had told officers that he had discarded the children in black plastic bags along a dirt road.
Jones told the driver he made a wrong turn on the wrong dirt road but took law enforcement officials to another dirt log road just a few miles away. Off one of the logger skidder roads, up a slight hill, the line of police cars stopped.
According to Johnson’s testimony, Jones began screaming and crying, “They’re over there,” when pointing out where the location where children’s bodies were found.
Alabama Bureau of Investigation, three choppers, state narcotics agents, Jones was there 10 minutes before the sheriff took him back to Smith County. Lexington County SHeriff’s Department officers were on the scene for hours.
Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. Friday in Lexington County Court.
Recap: Day 1
During the first day of witness testimony, the jury in the Timothy Jones murder trial heard from former administrators from Saxe Gotha Elementary where the three oldest Jones children attended, Jones’ boss from Intel, and law enforcement officers from Alabama and Mississippi.
Jones has admitted to killing his children on Aug. 28, 2014, after picking them up from school and daycare. The killings took place at the family home at 2155-B South Lake Dr. in Red Bank.
Jones was arrested on Sept. 6, 2014, after a traffic stop in Smith County, Mississippi, during which law enforcement officers discovered blood and handwritten notes on how to mutilate bodies in Jones’ car.
Jones had left the children’s bodies in plastic trash bags in a wooded area outside of Camden, Alabama. He had been traveling throughout the South with the bodies in the back of his car since Aug. 28.
Jones has pled guilty by reason of insanity.
His guilty plea would allow one of four possible outcomes in the trial: guilty, guilty by reason of insanity, not guilty by mental defect, or not guilty.
If found guilty, the death penalty would not be automatic. Jurors would then be asked to consider extenuating circumstances and could sentence Jones to life without parole rather than death.