Chilling police interview provides firsthand responses from Timothy Jones

Jones talked with FBI and SLED agents in Mississippi after his arrest

LEXINGTON, S.C. (WOLO) — A recording of an interview with law enforcement heard today reveals what went through Timothy Jones Jr.’s head on the night his children died and feelings about the death of his five children.

In a chilling 40 minute interview with various agencies, including the FBI, Jones told investigators about his children’s last moments, why he was afraid of his children, and his plans to drive around with the bodies before his arrest.

After he was arrested in Mississippi on September 6, 2014, Timothy Jones Jr. was brought in for a series of interviews.

In the second interview, which took place the day after his arrest, Jones was asked if he felt bad about killing his children.

“Part of him felt bad that no dad should ever do that to his children, but part of him said…they’re already dead.,” said Special Agent David Mackey of the Columbia FBI field office.

Jones told investigators that on the day of the murders, he got mad at his son Nahtahn, 6, for playing with electrical outlets. He says he made him do push-ups until he told the truth.

“His son wouldn’t tell the truth about those outlets, and he lets us know that had Nahtahn come off of this, none of this would have happened, all the children would be alive,” Mackey said.

Later on, Jones said he went to check on Nahtahn, but saw he was dead from exhaustion. At this point, Jones told investigators that he went and carried out the other four murders.

Investigators say Jones strangled the two oldest children with his hands, and then the two youngest with a belt.

Mackey says Elias (7) and Merah (8) struggled during the suffocations.

“According to Mr. Jones, Merah Gracie says, before she was strangled, ‘Daddy, I love you,” said Mackey.

Jones said he was planning to drive to Las Vegas, but when he was arrested in Mississippi, his plan quote “blew up in his face.” 

The final testimony of the day came from Brittney Pickle, a former SLED agent, who said none of the bodies were decapitated when they found them in rural Alabama.

In addition to Special Agent Mackey and Pickle, six other people took the stand.

Sheriff Charlie Crumpton of Smith County (Miss.) started off the testimony, saying he’s never seen anyone act like Jones did during the first interview.

“I’ve never seen anyone act like that before,” Sheriff Crumpton said. “He would get angrier and angrier whenever I brought up (his son, Nahtahn’s) name. The next day, he was a completely different person.”

Forensic expert Keith McMahan of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and Lt. Dustin Smith, the Chief Toxicologist at SLED, discussed the effects of synthetic cannabinoid AB Pinaca, which was in the “Scooby snax” found in Jones’s car at the time of his arrest.

Kennan Frederick, previously the Co-Manager at the West Columbia WalMart, and Denise Atkinson, at the time a cashier at the L&W Exxon store in Camden, testified about purchases Jones made at their respective location.

Marty Longshore, formerly of the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, testified that the garbage bags Jones put the childrens’ bodies in came from a local Dollar General.

Testimony continues Monday morning at the Lexington County Courthouse.