Recap on Timothy Jones trial from first day testimony to death penalty sentence
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Today’s sentence for Timothy Jones Jr. is the culmination of a story that began in September 2014 when Jones’ ex-wife, Amber Kyzer reported her five children missing.
Kyzer tried to contact Jones, her ex-husband, but there was no answer.
Deputies entered the kids and Jones as missing persons in the national crime database. Just days later, Jones was arrested a short time later for driving under the influence at a public safety checkpoint in Mississippi.
Authorities say he confessed to killing his children and led them to the bodies left in plastic bags in a rural, wooded area near Camden, Alabama. Authorities say they found the bodies on September 9, 2014.
Jones was extradited back to South Carolina on September 12th and was charged with murder in the children’s deaths.
Fast forward to April 2019, when the case against Jones was put before a jury. The defense pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but prosecutors contended he was nothing more than a murderer.
For 15 days jurors heard from dozens of witnesses both Jones and the circumstances that lead up to the children’s deaths.
On June 4, that jury found Timothy Jones Jr. guilty of murder and a little more than a week later, he was sentenced to death.
Timeline:
The first day of testimony began on May 15th, when nine witnesses took the stand to hear details that described Jones behavior and the events that led up to the death of his five children.
As the trial continued, details emerged from investigators in Mississippi about what was found in Timothy Jones Jr. car at the time of his arrest.
RELATED: Day three of the Timothy Jones trial features chilling testimony from investigators
Stacy Jones, a forensic scientist with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) recalls a strong smell as she approached Jones Cadillac Escalade the next morning.
After his arrest, Jones spoke with the FBI and SLED agents in Mississippi. The audio interview played to the jury revealed the thoughts of Timothy Jones Jr. and his feelings surrounding the death of the 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.
On day five of the testimonies, Amber Kyzer, Jones’s ex-wife, took the stand to explain why Jones would be the better caretaker for the children. Throughout her testimony, Kyzer (who has since remarried) could not hold back the tears, saying that she misses her five children every day.
RELATED: Ex-wife of Timothy Jones takes the stand in murder trial
As the trial continued, day six started with growing tensions between the prosecution and the defense. Prosecutors brought in two correctional officers from Kirkland Correctional Institution to paint a picture of Jones’s first few hours in custody on September 12, 2014.
After only six days of testimony, prosecutors in the Timothy Jones Jr. murder trial decided to rest their case after hearing from 32 out of a possible 150 witnesses.
Day eight in court showed more about Jones faith and fears during his marriage. When he introduced Jones to his newly started church in Lombard, Ill., in 2003, Pastor Micah Sutton says Jones frequently attended services, but his devotion to the church bothered some worshipers.
RELATED: Timothy Jones’s grandmother takes stand in Day Nine of murder trial
Jones’s grandmother, Roberta Thornsberry got emotional when looking back at the lives of her five children, even saying she would have taken the kids away from Jones if she knew they were in danger.
Although, Jones’s grandmother expressed her interest in removing the kids from Jones, a former DSS case worker testified as to why Jones kept his children in day 10 testimony — even after reports indicated “substantial risk of physical abuse.”
Timothy Jones Sr., Jones’s father, took the stand in Day 11 of his son’s murder trial.
RELATED: “This is the Tim I was scared of”: Jones Jr.’s father takes the stand
“I could have talked to him that day but I didn’t because my son wouldn’t do such a thing. This is the Tim I was scared I was going to see one day,” Timothy Jones Sr. said.
While Jones’s defense team called up several medical professionals to say Jones suffered with mental health issues, a court-appointed psychiatrist took the stand on day 12 to denounce those claims.
RELATED: Defense rests in Day 13 of Timothy Jones Jr. murder trial
The following week, the ball rested in the jury’s hand to determine whether Jones is guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of five children.
Both sides delivered closing statements that each went over an hour Monday afternoon, painting two different pictures of Timothy Jones Jr. and what went through his mind the night of the murders.
After six hours of deliberation on Tuesday, June 4th the jury decided that Jones Jr. verdict would be guilty.
RELATED: Jury finds Timothy Jones Jr. guilty of murdering his five children
Just days after Timothy Jones Jr. was found guilty for the murders of his five children, the sentencing phase in his murder trial began that morning on Thursday, June 6th.
Jones would either face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
After only two days of testimony, the prosecution rested its case in the sentencing phase of the Timothy Jones Jr. trial. Jones was found guilty earlier this week in the murders of his five children back in 2014.
RELATED: Teachers get emotional on stand when remembering Timothy Jones’s children
To wrap up their case, prosecutors brought up three educators, including two who taught Elias, 7, and Nahtahn, 6, while they were students at Saxe Gotha Elementary School.
On Monday, June 10th the family members of Timothy Jones Jr. call for the jury to spare his life and how he should not receive the death penalty.
RELATED:Ex-wife of Timothy Jones Jr. calls on jury to spare his life
As the trial came near the end, on Wednesday, June 12th the defense rested in the sentencing phase of the trial and called up four family members to take the stand saying they wanted mercy for the defendant, Timothy Jones Jr,.
One of Jones’s half brothers said how Jones always influenced him and how Jones guided him in the right direction.
Once those closing arguments wrapped up, the jury would decide the fate for Timothy Jones on Thursday and whether he would receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
After those closing arguments on Thursday morning and the jury deliberating for less than two hours, Timothy Jones Jr., fate would be the death penalty.
As Timothy Jones Jr., was sentenced to death for murdering his five children members of the Jones family have their arms wrapped around each other, with Timothy Jones Sr. holding a tissue to his face and his step-mother crying.
Judge Eugene Griffith sentenced Jones to death, with the formal date of execution slated for November 30, 2019 by lethal injection or electric chair. But with the automatic appeals process, that date will most likely be pushed back.
