SMITH COUNTY, Miss.–Picked up in Mississippi Saturday night at a DUI checkpoint in Smith County, Tim Jones, Jr. is in that jail until arrangements are made to get him back to South Carolina, where he will face charges of murdering his five children.
Police said Jones, 32, was divorced from his wife and she had called police when he did not bring the kids home. The bodies were found Tuesday, wrapped in individual plastic bags, at a site near Camden, Ala. That’s is Wilcox County.
Alabama State Trooper Steve Jarrett said at a news conference that he did not know why Jones chose to dump the bodies in Alabama. It was also not clear why he was in Mississippi.
The children were one to 8 years old.
In Mississippi, Jones faces DUI and drug possession charges, said Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton, who added that deputies took Jones in when he became agitated during the checkpoint stop Saturday night around 10.
He said an odor of meth-making chemicals was coming from the Cadillac Escalade, and they found meth and Spice, or synthetic marijuana.
When deputies searched his SUV, they found evidence of a crime and called in investigators from the Miss. Bureau of Investigation, who did a fine tooth comb search of the vehicle.
The deputies ran a check on Jones, finding the warrant from South Carolina, which came from the mom calling police about her missing kids. The kids were on a national missing persons list.
After spending some time with Jones, MBI agents and Alabama authorities were pointed to the spot where the kids were found.
“The suspect actually brought law enforcement from out of state to this location,” said Jarrett.
“The seriousness of this violent crime is unconscionable,” said Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz. “We gladly offer any and all resources of the Department of Public Safety to all law enforcement involved to ensure the person or persons responsible for this crime are held accountable.”
