Lexington Sheriff to hold press conference on 5 children found dead in Alabama

The Lexington County Sheriff will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday after the bodies of five Lexington County children, ages 1-8, were found in Alabama.

Live updates from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department press conference

The father of the children, Timothy Ray Jones, 32, of Lexington County will be charged, Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty said Tuesday night.

Arrangements were being made Tuesday night to return the bodies to Lexington County for autopsy and to bring Jones back to the state to face charges in the children’s disappearance, McCarty said. He was charged earlier with unlawful neglect by a legal custodian, McCarty said.

The neighbors of the Red Bank man who is accused of killing his five children are distraught.

One woman was too upset to speak about the family. Her husband said she used to babysit the kids while Jones would go to work as a computer technician.

Tuesday night, the single-wide mobile home on the 2100 block of South Lake Drive where Timothy Jones lived still had a light on, after crime scene investigators searched for clues connecting Jones to the slayings.

Inside the home, clothes and a hamper were strewn around the room that was lit. Outside, trash cans were scattered throughout the yard. Behind the home, tires were laid out in a pattern that football players use for agility training.

The bodies of the five children were found around 4:45 p.m. outside the town of Camden, Ala. Authorities have not said how they were killed.

Wilcox County, Ala., District Attorney Michael Jackson said that the father is suspected of killing the children in Lexington County, South Carolina, and dumping the bodies in Alabama.

Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton said Tuesday night that Jones was arrested on an unrelated charge around 9 p.m. Saturday at a traffic checkpoint east of Raleigh, Miss. The children were not with him.

Jones, driving a Cadillac Escalade, “appeared to be under the influence” and “became extremely agitated” while being questioned by a deputy, Crumpton said.

An investigator was called to the scene after the deputy reported finding chemicals for making methamphetamine and synthetic marijuana, called Spice.

A search of his vehicle also found “what appeared to be bleach, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids,” Crumpton said.

Jones, who has primary but joint custody of the children, was taken into custody after his name was found on a list of the National Crime Information Center. He and his children were listed as missing on Sept. 3 after his ex-wife called authorities to say she couldn’t get in touch with him.

The father, who remains in custody in Mississippi, told investigators he left the children along a road in Alabama. He eventually led police to the site.

“The children were decomposed and were found in individual plastic garbage bags,” Crumpton said.

Jones told Mississippi authorities that he dumped the bodies on Highway 10 between Camden and Greenville, Ala.

Tuesday afternoon, the FBI, Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and law enforcement officials from other states issued an alert for the five Lexington County children.

“Detectives suspect foul play” in the disappearance of the children, McCarty said in a news release.

When she reported her ex-husband and children missing, the mother told investigators that she had not been able to reach them, which has happened before.

Neighbors told Lexington County investigators that the father said he was moving out of state with the children.

According to the Associated Press, Marlene Hyder and her husband, Johnny Hyder, said Jones and his wife moved into a house next to them about seven years ago in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, 25 miles west of Columbia. Two years ago, the wife moved in with a male neighbor and Tim Jones moved away with the children, the Hyders said.

Contributing: Staff writer Tim Flach, The Associated Press

This story was originally published September 9, 2014 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Lexington Sheriff to hold press conference on 5 children found dead in Alabama."