اعترف تيموثى جونز، البالغ من العمر 32 عامًا، والد خمسة أطفال تتراوح أعمارهم من عام واحد إلى 8 أعوام، بقتل أبنائه ووضعهم في أكياس قمامة.
- Timothy Jones Jr, 32, arrested on Saturday and set to be charged with five counts of murder
- The Intel engineer led deputies to a dirt road where they found his children, ranging in age from one to eight, dead in plastic bags
- Authorities think all five children were killed at the same time
- The children's mother reported them missing on September 3 but an Amber Alert was not issued because father is primary guardian
- The parents divorced last year after the mother had an affair with their neighbor, court records showed
- Social services got a complaint about Timothy Jones last month claiming child abuse, but caseworkers found no red flags
إن الأب قام بإلقاء أبنائه على الطريق السريع في ولاية الأباما جنوب الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، عقب وضعهم في أكياس، وهو ما توصلت له الشرطة أول أمس الثلاثاء بعد اعتقاله بتهمة حيازة المواد الخاضعة للرقابة وتم الإبلاغ عن المفقودين من قبل والدتهم المطلقة من والدهم.
A father who killed his five young children then dumped their bodies in trash bags down a dirt track was described today as a 'smart, loving father' after it emerged that he had a messy divorce from their mother last year because she was reportedly having an affair with the neighbor.
Timothy Ray Jones Jr, 32, will be charged with five counts of murder, and officials believe he acted alone, Acting Sheriff Lewis McCarty of Lexington County said.
Authorities think all five children - aged one, two, six, seven and eight years old - were killed at the same time but gave no other details. Autopsies were scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Jones Jr led investigators on Tuesday to the dump site off a two-lane highway near Camden, Alabama, after admitting to killing his children following a routine traffic stop in Mississippi.
Jones, an Intel engineer who graduated from the University of Mississippi, was given primary custody of his children last year. A therapist called him 'highly intelligent' and a 'responsible father.'
The bodies of the five children were found in garbage bags on a dirt track in Alabama after their father led police to the dumping ground. The police released this picture of the siblings at a news conference today
His wife didn't work outside the home or have a driver's license, according to court divorce records.
Two years ago, his former wife moved in with a male neighbor and Jones moved away with the children, one of his wife's neighbors revealed today.
Jones was stopped at a traffic checkpoint in Mississippi on Saturday where he was described as 'high as a kite' on synthetic marijuana known as Spice, which is readily available in head shops and online.
Timothy Ray Jones Jr, 32, was charged with murder today after he confessed to killing his five children
Timothy Ray Jones Jr, 32, was charged with murder today after he confessed to killing his five children
A deputy, who 'had been around long enough to know the smell of death' spotted bleach, blood and children's clothes in his Cadillac Escalade.
Jones was taken into custody in Raleigh, Mississippi and charged with driving under the influence.
When authorities ran his license plate, they discovered Jones and his five children had been reported missing by their mother.
The children, whose names have not been released, were last seen August 28.
The older children were at school, and Jones picked up his younger kids from a day care center.
He was to return the children to their mother's home September 2, but never showed up. Their mother, Jones' ex-wife, reported them missing the next day.
The case has unfolded over the past two weeks, covering five states and about 700 miles in what the sheriff called a 'logistical nightmare'.
It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon - when authorities made the gruesome discovery of the children's bodies - that they went public with the case.
Jones was set to be charged with murder on Wednesday along with child neglect. It is not yet clear if he will face the death penalty although it is available to prosecutors in South Carolina.
The father-of-five has not revealed a motive for the killings.
On Wednesday, it emerged that a month before the slayings, the state Department of Social Services received a complaint against Timothy Ray Jones alleging child abuse.
The person who filed the complaint August 7 has not been named, but social workers confirmed to WLTX that it prompted an investigation into claims of child abuse. .
Caseworkers were sent to interview the father of five, his brood and the family's neighbors - but no red flags were raised at the time.
Jackie Swindler, with the DSS, told the station there was no evidence to suggest that Jones' young children were in imminent danger.
Family speak out: Timothy Jones Sr., center, at microphone, stands next to his son Travis, right, as he reads a statement to the media about his slain grandchldren in front of his home Wednesday in Amory, Tennessee
Strong words: Timothy Jones Sr insisted that his son Timothy, known to those close to him as 'Little Tim,' was not an animal or a monster, but a loving dad
Jones' father, Timothy Jones Sr., said the family's hearts are broken, and he called his son a loving dad.
'We do not have all the answers, and we may never have them,' he said in a brief statement outside his home in Amory, Mississippi.
'But anyone who knows Little Tim will agree that he is not the animal he will be portrayed as through the media.' He did not take questions from reporters.
Mr Jones also asked the media for privacy to allow the family to grieve and made a request for prayers.
'Angels are with us, but your prayers are helping us cope,' he stated.
Jones' father told officials his son was highly intelligent, but Mississippi Sheriff Charlie Crumpton said he had difficulty reading Jones' emotions during the confession.
'Sometimes he was up, sometimes he was down on himself,' Crumpton said.
'We were trying to balance the children and the investigation against the releasing of information,' Sheriff McCarty of South Carolina said. 'I am a police officer. I'm not a politician. My job basically is to get this job done.'
South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said authorities did not issue an Amber Alert because the case didn't meet the criteria because Jones had legal custody of his children.
On Wednesday, food and other garbage were piled up outside Jones' mobile home south of Lexington. The yard was overgrown, with broken toys strewn about.
A sign on front door said, 'Is there life after death? Trespass here and find out' with a photo of a gun.
The father had told neighbors that he and his five children were moving to another state after he divorced from his wife and became their primary legal custodian
Investigators said today that they believed all five children had been killed together. Autopsies were due to be performed on Thursday
Jones was awaiting extradition from Mississippi on Wednesday. The children's bodies have been brought back to South Carolina for the autopsies. Officials won't comment on any causes of death until the autopsies are completed.
The children's mother, Jones' ex-wife, is in shock and distraught, McCarty said.
'I'm sure everybody wants to know the answers,' Jones' father, Timothy Jones Sr said. 'It's just a terrible tragedy.'
He also told NBC today: I know my grandchildren are in heaven. I don't want no one to think that my son is the animal that they're going to put him to be.'
'They were wonderful. They were happy,' Jones' stepmother, Julie Jones said of the five children as she cried. 'They were wonderful, beautiful.'
Jones had joint custody of the children with his ex-wife following their divorce a year ago. He was their primary legal custodian, the Lexington County Sheriff's Office said.
The father had told neighbors that he and the children were moving to another state.
Jones admitted to the killings in Smith County, Mississippi, after he was pulled over on Saturday at a driver's license checkpoint and arrested on charges of DUI
Jones was taken into custody this weekend and charged with unlawful neglect of a child. Murder charges were added on Wednesday
Police have not released details on how the children died. The children's bodies were taken back to South Carolina for autopsies and identification on Tuesday night, sheriff's officials said.
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.
Johnny Hyder said the children were often dressed in dirty clothes and were seen home at all hours of the day because Tim Jones had said he didn't believe in the public schools. Hyder said Jones was constantly looking for a reason to argue and often threatened to call the police.
He said Jones approached him with a gun on his hip one day and was angry about something, but Hyder couldn't remember what it was. When Hyder said he was going to call police, he said Jones told him it was only a BB gun.
Marlene Hyder said Jones threatened to kill one of their dogs when it briefly went onto his property.
She said: 'He was a nut'.
Mrs Hyder said she also remembered a day when one of the Jones' younger children came over to the Hyders' house and tried to drink out of one of their outdoor spigots.
He was dirty and disheveled and ran back to his house when she tried to speak to him, she said.
A 'no trespassing' sign was posted near the driveway of a house where the Hyders said Tim Jones' ex-wife still lived with the other neighbor.
Alabama Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Steve Jarrett told a news conference that authorities were not sure why Jones drove through that state.
He said Jones led investigators to the children's bodies on a dirt road near the Oak Hill area.
A view of the home of Timothy Ray Jones is shown, in Redbank, South Carolina on Wednesday. Authorities expect to charge Jones in connection with the deaths of his five children after he led officers to a secluded clearing in Alabama where their bodies lay wrapped in individual garbage bags
A view of the home of Timothy Ray Jones Jr is shown strewn with trash on Wednesday. The father-of-five admitted to killing his children and dumping their bodies
The children's decomposed remains were found packaged in individual plastic garbage bags east of Camden, Alabama, said Smith County, Mississippi, Sheriff Charlie Crumpton.
Jones was detained Saturday at a checkpoint East of Raleigh, Mississippi, where police were looking for impaired drivers, Crumpton said.
He said Jones appeared to be under the influence and became agitated when a deputy questioned him about an odor of chemicals coming from the Cadillac Escalade.
The deputy found what were believed to be chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine and a substance believed to be the street drug Spice, a form of synthetic marijuana, Crumpton said.
Jones, 32, led police to the children's bodies wrapped in plastic bags and dumped on a dirt road near the Oak Hill area in a rural area southwestern Alabama
Authorities gather in a fielded area surrounded by trees in Camden, Alabama where the children's decomposing bodies were found in individual trash bags
A helicopter flies over the scene on Tuesday where the little bodies were found. The children, whose names have not been released, were reported missing from their home in South Carolina on September 3
A sheriff's office investigator was called and found what appeared to be bleach, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids, he said.
During a background check, police discovered that Jones was wanted in South Carolina 'regarding a welfare concern of his children,' who were on a national missing persons list.
Investigators from several departments and the FBI started looking for the missing children on Monday, he said.
The father was being held in Smith County, Mississippi, and awaiting extradition to South Carolina, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said.
Investigators also found in the vehicle bleach, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids on Jones' SUV when he was pulled over during a traffic stop on Saturday
A group of investigators gather under a light not far from where the children's bodies were found down an Alabama dirt road
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