Tony Santaella and Therese Apel, USA TODAY 5:17 p.m. EDT September 10, 2014
Police say the dad of the five murdered kids killed his children in South Carolina and dumped them in Alabama days later, after driving through several states. He also had bath salts and synthetic marijuana with him when he was arrested. VPC
Police say Timothy Ray Jones confessed to killing his five children(Photo: Smith County Sheriff's Department)
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LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — A father accused of killing his five children will face murder charges as soon as he's brought back to South Carolina, said Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty.
Authorities found the remains of the five children — ages 1 to 8 — Tuesday on a dirt road off Alabama Highway 10 near the Oak Hill community in Wilcox County, said Sgt. Steve Jarrett, spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, was arrested in Mississippi on Saturday on unrelated charges. He led authorities to the bodies Tuesday, which were in five separate garbage bags.
STORY: 5 missing S.C. children found dead; father confesses
During a news conference Wednesday, McCarty said no motive has been revealed but officials believe the siblings were killed at the same time.
McCarty described Smith as "calm" as he led investigators to the children's bodies.
But anyone who knows Little Tim will agree that he is not the animal he will be portrayed as through the media.
Timothy Jones Sr., father of Timothy Jones Jr.
"We do feel deaths occurred in Lexington County (S.C.)," McCarty said.
McCarty characterized the bodies as being in an advanced state of decomposition and said the manner of death was not clear.
Jones drove up to North Carolina, then back into South Carolina, officials said. Then he traveled through Lake City and Orangeburg, S.C., then into Athens, Ga., before returning to South Carolina before he drove to Mississippi.
"We feel that he killed the five children at the same time. ... I don't understand why he did it, but yes, these children were in the car, deceased in garbage bags for some period of time," McCarty said.
Sheriff's officials in Smith County, Miss., said Jones waived his right to an extradition hearing, paving the way for him to return to South Carolina late Wednesday to be charged with five counts of murder.
The children's bodies are already in South Carolina. McCarty said he won't release the names until an autopsy is performed, which will determine exactly how the children died. Autopsies are set to begin Thursday.
He said he has spoken to the children's mother, who was in shock and distraught.
"I don't think that there's a person in this room that could speak to the mother of her children and not be emotional," McCarty said.
The Mississippi grandparents of the children issued a statement Wednesday seeking respect as the family grieves.
Outside his home in Amory, Miss., Timothy Jones Sr., the suspect's father, asked for privacy to "mourn the loss of our loved ones, not only our grandchildren, but our son as well."
He described his son as a loving dad.
"We do not have all the answers, and we may never have them," he said. "But anyone who knows Little Tim will agree that he is not the animal he will be portrayed as through the media."
Mississippi State University confirmed Wednesday that Timothy Ray Jones Jr. graduated from there in 2011 with a degree in computer engineering.
Jones was arrested Saturday in Smith County, Miss., after he was detained at a traffic checkpoint. Deputies reported that he seemed to be under the influence. When they searched his SUV, they found what they believed were chemicals used to make meth and a synthetic form of marijuana, and what appeared to be bleach, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids in the car.
SLED Chief Mark Keel stands at the podium beside a projection of the images of the children who were killed.(Photo: WLTX)
Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton said authorities questioned Jones right away, interviewing him for two nights. He said Jones tried to tell police at first that the children were fine.
"He was saying, 'The kids have been taken care of, there's not a problem,' " Crumpton said. "We knew that wasn't right because they would have turned up somewhere."
Crumpton said Jones' moods fluctuated greatly during the police interview.
"His emotions would go from really calm to irate to crying. He just bounced up and down. He'd be high as you could go, then low as you could go," Crumpton said.
We feel that he killed the five children at the same time. He traveled three states with these children in garbage bags in the back of his vehicle.
Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty
Crumpton wasn't sure whether Jones displayed any remorse.
"At some point, I was hoping I saw some of that," he said.
The children were last seen Aug. 28 when Jones picked them up from school, McCarty said. They did not attend school Aug. 29 or Sept. 2. The children's mother reported Jones and the children missing to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department on Sept. 3, he said.
At that time, McCarty said, a missing persons' report was filed and placed into the National Crime Information Center computer database, and the investigation began.
McCarty said this was not the first time the mother has had difficulty reaching her ex-husband, which was among the factors that led law enforcement to hold off on issuing an Amber Alert. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said the children were believed to be with their primary guardian, Jones, another reason the alert wasn't sent.
When deputies ran Jones' tags after his arrest, they got a hit in the missing person's database about the children. He was arrested for DUI and possession of a controlled substance, and deputies in Smith County called South Carolina officials.
There had been a complaint to the Department of Social Services on Aug. 7 about Jones and his treatment of the children. That same day, the Lexington Sheriff's Department and Department of Social Services went to the Jones residence and talked to Jones, the children and neighbors. They didn't find any signs of abuse but were set to revisit the home within 45 days.
Records describe a messy divorce in October 2013. Jones' wife was having an affair with a neighbor, according to the divorce file. Jones was given primary custody, and a therapist called him "highly intelligent" and a "responsible father."
Jones was an Intel engineer and made more than $70,000 a year, and his wife didn't work outside the home or have a driver's license, according to the records.
McCarty called the case unprecedented in his three-plus decades in law enforcement.
"I've never seen a case like this," McCarty said. "We all see things in our career that have an impact on you. This case has impacted anyone ... who's had anything to do with this."
Contributing: The Associated Press. Santaella reports for WLTX-TV, Columbia, S.C.; Apel reports for The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger.
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