Sheriff: ‘I’ve never seen a case like this’

Law enforcement officials said Wednesday they still have no motive from the Lexington County father who will be charged in the killing of his five children in one of the largest mass murders in recent Midlands history.

On Tuesday, Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, calmly led investigators from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, State Law Enforcement Division and FBI to the rural Alabama site where he dumped the bodies of his five children, Sheriff Lewis McCarty said Wednesday.

The bodies of three boys and two girls – identified in divorce court records as Merah, 8; Elias, 7; Nahtahn, 6; Gabriel, 2; and Elaine Marie, 1 – were found in plastic garbage bags around 4:45 p.m. outside the town of Camden, Ala., according to investigators.

“He has not indicated why he did this,” McCarty said, adding it’s also unclear why the bodies were left at that site.

McCarty said the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition, leading investigators to conclude that the children were killed in the early stages of a disappearance that likely began Aug. 28. Authorities have not yet indicated how the children were killed.

“In all of my years in law enforcement, I have never seen a case like this,” McCarty said. “It’s hard to work a case with one child and one murder, it’s very difficult to work two. But five is extremely hard, and these men and women involved in this case have put everything they have in it.”

Jones was a computer engineer at an Intel Corp. office in the St. Andrews area of Columbia, where he reported making nearly $72,000 a year, according to divorce records.

“Intel is heartbroken to learn about the tragic situation involving these children,” said company spokesman Chuck Mulloy.

The initial investigation of the family began Aug. 7 when state social services officials received a report of neglect against Jones. Jackie Swindler, a DSS spokesman, did not disclose the nature of the complaint and who made it.

DSS, along with Lexington County law enforcement, went out that day to investigate and interviewed Jones, his children as well as neighbors with regard to the alleged abuse.

“There was nothing to show that the children were in any imminent danger or peril at that time – the case was still open,” Swindler said.

Swindler said a follow-up visit was to happen by late September, but officials had not gone back before Jones and his children were reported missing.

According to divorce records, Jones said his former wife, Amber, 28, was investigated for child neglect in September 2011.

On Sept. 3, Amber Jones reported the children and her ex-husband missing. According the sheriff’s department, Timothy Jones was last seen Aug. 28 picking up his three school-age children from their elementary school and the other two from day care.

Although Amber Jones told investigators it wasn’t uncommon for her to not be able to reach her ex-husband immediately, investigators entered the father and children into the National Crime Information Center database as missing.

The disappearance of the children did not meet the requirements to issue an AMBER Alert because the children were with their father, who had legal custody of the youngsters, according to McCarty and SLED Chief Mark Keel.

With the children’s bodies in the car, Jones traveled from South Carolina, to North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi before finally driving to Alabama, where he dumped the bodies, investigators said.

McCarty said Jones traveled to Mississippi on Saturday because he was a graduate of the University of Mississippi and it is where his father lives. As he was driving through Raleigh, Miss., he was stopped at a Smith County checkpoint, where he was suspected to be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“When the officer approached him he seemed very strange, maybe somewhat disoriented – a little bit on the violent side,” McCarty said. “Upon the officers in Mississippi looking in the vehicle, they found evidence of cleaning material, material that would be used to clean blood, and they saw blood. They saw children’s clothes, but no children.”

According to McCarty, Mississippi police officers also found drug paraphernalia commonly associated with the manufacturing of methamphetamine as well as synthetic marijuana known as “spice,” which possesses strong hallucinogenic side effects.

Jones was taken into custody on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and taken to the Smith County jail. There, officers ran a vehicle check and discovered Jones was listed as a missing person from South Carolina, McCarty said.

McCarty said Jones is being transported back to South Carolina to face murder charges. He will be held at an undisclosed state prison, McCarty said, because of concerns about his safety in the county jail.

Jones had no prior criminal record in South Carolina, according to a SLED background check.

The shock of the killings permeated through the Lexington County community. The Rev. Jimmy Walker, associate pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church, said some children in his congregation were friends with the Jones children.

“It’s devastating,” Walker said. “I don’t know these children, but we have some who are classmates. ... There are no answers. You just try and comfort the children.”

Lexington 1 school officials made counselors and psychologists available for students who knew the children, spokeswoman Mary Beth Hill said.

Intel likewise is providing “appropriate support” for employees who knew Jones, Mulloy said.

McCarty said he hopes the autopsies will be completed as early as Thursday.

The outcome reflects “old-fashioned police work” and multi-agency cooperation, according to FBI agent Dave Thomas.

A memorial service will be held for the children Friday at 1 p.m. at Amory Church of Christ in Raleigh, Miss., where their grandfather lives.

Staff Writers Tim Flach and Carolyn Click and the Monroe (Miss.) Journal contributed.

This story was originally published September 10, 2014 at 8:36 PM with the headline "Sheriff: ‘I’ve never seen a case like this’."