Parents of 5 slain Lexington County children had troubled marriage

The 10-year marriage of the parents of five slain Lexington County children ended in divorce last fall, after allegations of the mother’s affair and a complaint that she neglected the youngsters, court records show.

Timothy Ray Jones Jr. – whom authorities say has confessed to killing his children ages 1-8 – was given primary custody, after a family therapist called him well-qualified for that role, according to records authorizing his divorce.

Amber Jones, 28, whom records say was a homemaker who didn’t drive, agreed to that arrangement as part of the divorce granted Oct. 14, 2013.

Assigning the youngsters to the father’s care, with time for the mother every other weekend, was in “their best interests and that of their children,” according to divorce records in the Lexington County Family Court.

That settlement came after a report from the therapist described Jones as a “highly intelligent, responsible father” who cared deeply about his children.

He is “very detailed, action-oriented and focused on his children,” the report said. “When Mr. Jones sees an obstacle, he sets his sights on the solution and is willing to go through the often difficult process of achieving his goal of resolution.”

But Jones was distraught over what he believed was his wife’s “inappropriate relationship” with a 19-year-old neighbor in 2012, the report said.

In addition, the report said, state social services officials investigated Amber Jones’ alleged neglect of the children in September 2011, the report quoted him as saying. That investigation happened before divorce proceedings started.

Timothy Jones was quoted in the report as saying she “had not been taking care of the house or the kids. Mrs. Jones did not clean their home or feed the children in an acceptable manner.”

No details about that investigation were available from state officials Wednesday. Divorce records don’t say who made the complaint against her.

Amber Jones called deputies Sept. 3 when her husband failed to deliver the children to her a day earlier and didn’t reply to efforts to talk to him, investigators said Wednesday.

It was not unusual for her former husband to fail to respond promptly when she contacted him, investigators said.

She “is a very sweet lady,” Sheriff Lewis McCarty said Wednesday. “She is in shock and extremely distraught.”

The Joneses also were just getting by financially near the end of their marriage, records in the divorce agreement said.

Household expenses and debt consumed most of the salary of nearly $72,000 a year that Timothy Jones earned as a computer engineer at a local office of Intel Corp., records show.

At the time of the divorce, Timothy Jones listed $658 in the bank and his Amber Jones listed nothing, records show.

The family had lived in Lexington County since at least mid-2012, records show. The parents were married in suburban Chicago in June 2004, records say. In the divorce order, the name of their 1-year-old daughter was changed from Abagail Elizabeth to Elaine Marie, but no explanation was given.

Timothy Jones most recently lived with his children in a mobile home in the Red Bank area, after moving from the Fairview Crossroads area on the western edge of the county, tax records say.

Wednesday, the dirt road on which the Jones family once made their home was deserted except for a few media vehicles. Down an overgrown driveway, no one answered the trailer door at 210 Russell Rowe Road, one of the first addresses listed in the Joneses’ divorce papers.

At the adjacent property, at 190 Russell Rowe Road, a mobile home where Amber Jones later received divorce papers, a woman ordered reporters off the land.

She declined to speak about the case, saying “I know who Tim was and you are making him out to be something that he wasn’t.” She would not identify herself.

Up the road, Eddie Felder, owner of Buck’s Frame & Alignment, had just read the story and scrutinized the picture of Jones.

“I didn’t recognize him,” Felder said. “If he came in here, it’s been months ago.”

Lexington County authorities say Jones, 32, will be charged with five counts of murder in the deaths of his children, whose bodies were found Tuesday in a rural area in southwest Alabama. Jones is being transported back to South Carolina.

Staff Writer Carolyn Click contributed to this story.

This story was originally published September 10, 2014 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Parents of 5 slain Lexington County children had troubled marriage."