Photo: Marion County Sheriff's Office
The wife's family noticed his violent tendencies.
By Elizabeth Ward — Written on Sep 21, 2019
Thirty-eight-year-old man from Summerfield, Florida, has been charged with second-degree murder of after confessing to the murders of his wife and four children. Michael Wayne Jones Jr., “crashed his van in Brantley County, GA, on Sunday, he told responding officers that his dead wife, Casei Jones, was in the back of the vehicle," the police said. "She had been dead for weeks,” the New York Times reported. Jones later told the police that he could lead them to the remains of his wife’s four children — Cameron Bowers, 10; Preston Bowers, 5; Mercali Jones, 2; and Aiyana Jones, 1. The crash occurred more than 150 miles away from the family’s Florida home near Ocala.
“Michael Wayne Jones is being held without bail in the Brantley County Jail on accusations of being a fugitive from justice, driving with a suspended/revoked license and failure to maintain lane (weaving over roadway),” according to Heavy. “Marion County has issued an arrest warrant charging him with murder. Charges for the deaths of the children are forthcoming.”
Who Is Casei Jones?
1. Casei Jones's mother suspected that Mr. Jones was involved in the disappearance of Casei and the children after not seeing them for weeks.
After not seeing her daughter or grandchildren for weeks, Ms. Jones’s mother reached out to the Marion County Sheriff’s Department to report them as missing. She told the officials that she was worried that Mr. Jones was involved in their whereabouts, according to police documents.
2. Casei Jones’ family suspected Michael Jones was violent.
According to Heavy, “Casei’s sister, Sarah Gilbert said Michael Jones could be violent. ‘There were signs,’ she told First Coast News. Family members frequently begged Casei to leave her husband, “but she was in love,” she said. He was ‘violent, and obsessive and I would say very angry acts, toward Casei and sometimes, even her boys.’”
3. After Michael Jones got into a car accident, he admitted to responding officers that his wife’s dead body was in his car.
According to The New York Times, “When deputies from the Brantley County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene of Mr. Jones’s crash just after 7 p.m., the officers smelled ‘a foul odor,’ according to a statement from the police. Mr. Jones told them, ‘You may want to put me in handcuffs,’ because there was a dead body in the vehicle, the statement said.”
"Mr. Jones later admitted to hiding the bodies of the children in the woods next to the highway in Charlton County, GA, just before his car accident, the police said."
4. He kept the bodies in his car for weeks.
According to Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paul Bloom, “The bodies were there in the [Florida] home for maybe up to a couple, two or three weeks, and from there moved to the car, and he’s had the victims’ bodies in his vehicle we believe for at least a couple of weeks now.”
5. There is no history of police reports from the Jones residence.
“We’ve never been to the house before on any calls and had no dealings with this couple prior to now,” Sergeant Bloom said. “The ‘why’ is a question everyone wants to know, but we don’t know.”
6. Authorities aren't sure of the weapon that was used.
According to WDJB, authorities have shared that they are unsure of the weapon that was used. Public Information Director Sgt. Paul Bloom shared, "I know some have asked what was this caused by, do we know what instrument was used, what weapon...not right now. We're still waiting on all the evidence to come in and determine based on the evidence what may have been used to murder her”.
Elizabeth Ward is a writing student finishing her bachelor’s at the University of Louisville. She covers topics in news, entertainment, relationships and everything in between.