Lexington Co. mom says this drug caused ex-husband to kill their 5 kids

Timothy Ray Jones Jr. was “under the intoxicating influence” of synthetic marijuana when he allegedly killed his five children in their Red Bank home three years ago, his former wife says.

The claim comes in a lawsuit seeking damages from five Lexington County retailers that Amber Jones says sold him the product.

The lawsuit doesn’t say how often Timothy Jones used the synthetic marijuana K-2, sold as Spice. “I don’t know the frequency or amount used,” said John Carrigg, a former Lexington County councilman who is one of Amber Jones’ lawyers.

It’s the first suggestion of why the children were murdered. “Based on my understanding, there was clearly evidence these drugs played a part,” Carrigg said.

“These substances are well-known to be severely addictive and are well-known to cause numerous physical and psychological changes in people,” the lawsuit says. “These substances are well-known to cause both auditory and visual hallucinations.”

Synthetic marijuana compounds “may affect the brain much more powerfully than marijuana,” the National Institute on Drug Abuse says on its website. “Their actual effects can be unpredictable and, in some cases, severe or even life-threatening.”

Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard declined to comment on the lawsuit but said Jones’ trial is tentatively set to begin in February. Public defenders Boyd Jones and Rob Madsen, Timothy Jones’ lawyers, could not be reached Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from Lexington Ink, Tatway Tattoos, Time Warp, Alibaba’s Pipe Emporium and T&N Smoke as well as their owners and one employee of Lexington Ink.

Tatway Tattoos took over Lexington Ink’s location but “is not related to them at all” and has never sold synthetic marijuana, owner Stefany Munn said. “Our deepest sympathies are with the (Jones) family.”

The other four businesses, their owners and the Lexington Ink employee could not be reached Tuesday.

Traces of synthetic marijuana were found in Timothy Jones’ vehicle in September 2014 after he was arrested a week after the murders, police have said.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Jones, 35, for what is one of the largest mass murders in the Columbia area in decades.

He is charged with five counts of murder in the deaths of his children – Merah, 8, Elias, 7, Nahtahn, 6, Gabriel, 2, and Elaine, 1. Authorities believe he killed the children on Aug. 28, 2014, after picking them up from school and day care.

Indictments – one for each child – say he beat Nahtahn to death and strangled the other four.

The lawsuit by Amber Jones was filed in Lexington County Circuit Court on the third anniversary of the slayings.

Amber Jones also sued the state Department of Social Services last year, claiming the agency failed numerous times to safeguard the children despite many reports that their father was a threat to their lives and well-being.

Timothy Jones told investigators he believed his children planned to kill him and then “chop him up and feed him to the dogs,” according to an arrest warrant revealed in court.

Beyond that, few details are known about what drove Jones and what he told law enforcement. A court-imposed gag order prevents disclosure of some findings and comments from prosecutors, defense lawyers and investigators.

Synthetic marijuana makers continually change the composition of their product as authorities try to outlaw it, the lawsuit said.

That means users “have no idea how intensely the chemical will affect them and thereby are deprived of the ability to intelligently determine whether they pose a danger to themselves or others,” it said.

Timothy Jones, who worked for a computer technology company in Columbia, had custody of the children after his 10-year marriage ended in divorce in October 2013.

Authorities began looking for the children after Amber Jones reported them missing Sept. 3, 2014.

Timothy Jones was stopped Sept. 6, 2014, at a traffic safety checkpoint in Raleigh, Miss., on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The site is near where his parents live.

His vehicle contained “a large amount of blood and handwritten notes with directions to kill and mutilate bodies,” according to an arrest warrant. It added that a search of the vehicle revealed “a significant amount of bleach products (aroma) along with blood.”

The traffic stop ended his odyssey of more than a week of driving through the Southeast. The bodies of the children were in plastic garbage bags in his SUV for part of that trip, authorities have said.

The children’s bodies were found three days later on a hillside outside Camden, Ala., after Jones led investigators there.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Lexington Co. mom says this drug caused ex-husband to kill their 5 kids."