US father ‘killed his five children and dumped bodies in rubbish bags’

 
Charged: Timothy Ray Jones Jr led police to the bodies off a main road in Alabama
Michael Howie10 September 2014

A man is suspected of killing his five children in South Carolina and then driving for hours before dumping their bodies, wrapped in individual rubbish bags, on a dirt road in rural Alabama.

Timothy Ray Jones Jr, 32, led investigators to the site where the bodies of the children were found, off a two-lane highway near Camden, Alabama department of public safety spokesman Sergeant Steve Jarrett said.

Jones has been charged with child neglect and police expect to lodge additional charges against him in connection with the children’s deaths.

The children ranged in age from one to eight and were reported missing by their mother on September 3.

Michael Jackson, district attorney in Wilcox County, Alabama, said: “These kids’ lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to enjoy life. Justice will be served.”

Police have not released details on how the children died. A coroner was last night arranging for their bodies to be taken back to South Carolina for post-mortem examinations.

Jones was being held in Smith County, Mississippi, awaiting extradition to South Carolina. He was detained on Saturday after being stopped at a vehicle checkpoint near Raleigh, Mississippi, and charged with drunk driving.

Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton said Jones became agitated when questioned him about a smell of chemicals coming from the Cadillac Escalade he was driving. A deputy found what were believed to be chemicals used to make methamphetamine and a substance believed to be the street drug Spice, a form of synthetic marijuana, Crumpton said. A sheriff’s office investigator was called and found what appeared to be bleach, hydrochloric acid and blood, he said.

During a background check, police discovered that Jones was wanted in South Carolina as his children were on a national missing persons list.

Police started looking for the children on Monday, Crumpton said.

Jones had joint custody of the children and is divorced from their mother, police said. They said he told neighbours that he and the children were moving to another state.

Marlene Hyder and her husband, Johnny, said Jones and his wife moved into a house next to them about seven years ago in Batesburg-Leesville. Two years ago, the wife moved in with a male neighbour and Tim Jones moved away with the children, the Hyders said.

Johnny Hyder said the children were often dressed in dirty clothes and were seen at home at all hours as Jones did not believe in state schools. Marlene Hyder said Jones threatened to kill one of their dogs, adding: “He was a nut.”

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