Marion County murder investigation shows children stayed with family between time of mother’s and their deaths: report
October 21, 2019
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The Star-Banner looked at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office report that is part of the evidence gathered for the state’s case against Jones Jr.
The details reveal how authorities first became involved in the case, visiting the single-wide mobile home in Summerfield on Sept. 14 for a well-being check, but finding it vacant, and appearing as if it had been recently cleaned. Further investigation found that the owner of the property had arranged to have maintenance workers clean it in early September after Jones Jr. told him on Aug. 23 that the family was moving out.
The investigative report lays out a timeline in which Casei Jones mother Nikki Jones received texts from her daughter’s phone after the suspected date of Casei’s death asking that she take care of the youngest children, who are the biological children of Michael Jones, the Star-Banner reported. Nikki Jones, who lives in DeLand, took the two young girls for about two weeks in July before returning them to Michael Jones. Authorities believe the texts were an effort by Jones Jr. to make relatives believe Casei Jones was still alive, the Star-Banner reported.
The investigation also showed that the older children were with their biological father Richard Bowers, the ex-husband of Casei Jones, for the last few weeks of July until Aug. 10, according to the Star-Banner. Bowers told investigators that his children told him that Michael Jones was abusive to them and their mother, hitting them “with hangers or anything he could find when he was angry.”
Investigators believe the four children were killed before the end of August, the older boys by strangulation and the younger girls later by drowning.
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Marion County murder investigation shows children stayed with family between time of mother’s and their deaths: report
