The children, last seen on Aug. 28, were identified as Merah, 8; Elias, 7; Nathan, 6; Gabriel, 2, and Elaine Marie, 1.
Elaine Marie was born Abagail Elizabeth but the parents agreed to a name change, records show.
Timothy Ray Jones, Jr.
Father to be charged with murder in deaths of 5 children whose bodies were found in Alabama
CAMDEN, Alabama (AP) — A South Carolina man will be charged with murder in the deaths of his five children after he led authorities to a secluded clearing in Alabama, where their bodies were found wrapped in garbage bags, a sheriff said Wednesday.
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Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, was stopped at a traffic checkpoint in Mississippi on Saturday and he was acting strangely, authorities said. A deputy spotted bleach, blood and children's clothes in his Cadillac Escalade, authorities said. It would be another three days before the children's bodies were discovered.
Jones was taken into custody and charged with drunken driving. When authorities ran his license plate, they discovered Jones and his five children had been reported missing by their mother Sept. 3 after they didn't show up for school in South Carolina, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Jones began cooperating and led authorities to the bodies off a dirt road in central Alabama and they discovered the bodies.
Acting Sheriff Lewis McCarty of Lexington County said Jones would be charged with five counts of murder when he is brought back to South Carolina either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.
McCarty said authorities believe that Jones killed the five children at the same time. They were last seen Aug. 28, he said.
McCarty did not say specifically why he thought they were killed at the same time. Authorities were not sure of the motive for the killings, he said.
The children's bodies have been brought back to South Carolina for autopsies, set to begin Thursday. The sheriff said the children's mother, Jones' ex-wife, is in shock and distraught. The children were ages 1 to 8.
McCarty said he was unsure when the autopsies will be finished, and officials won't comment on any causes of death until then.
The children's mother, Jones' ex-wife, is in shock and distraught, McCarty said.
"I'm sure everybody wants to know the answers," Jones' father, Timothy Jones Sr., told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Amory, Mississippi. "It's just a terrible tragedy."
"They were wonderful. They were happy," Jones' stepmother, Julie Jones said of the five children as she cried. "They were wonderful, beautiful."
Wilcox County District Attorney Michael Jackson told The Associated Press that Jones is suspected of killing the children in South Carolina before bringing their bodies to Alabama.
"This is a very tragic situation," Jackson said. "These kids' lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to enjoy life. Justice will be served."
Jones had joint custody of his children with his ex-wife, police said, and had recently told neighbors he and the kids were going to move out of South Carolina.
Marlene Hyder and her husband, Johnny Hyder, said Jones and his wife moved into a house next to them about seven years ago in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, 25 miles west of Columbia. Two years ago, the wife moved in with a male neighbor and Tim Jones moved away with the children, the Hyders said.
Jones led police to the site where the bodies of the children were found, off a two-lane highway near Camden, said Alabama Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Steve Jarrett.
Investigators could be seen at the site late Tuesday, working in a clearing at the top of a hill lit by floodlights.
Jones was detained in Smith County, Mississippi, on Saturday after being stopped at a motor vehicle checkpoint near Raleigh, Mississippi, and charged with drunken driving, Crumpton said.
The Smith County sheriff said Jones became agitated when a deputy questioned him about an odor of chemicals coming from the Cadillac Escalade he was driving. The deputy found what were believed to be chemicals used to manufacture 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, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids, he said.
During a background check, police discovered that Jones was wanted in South Carolina "regarding a welfare concern of his children," who were on a national missing persons list, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. The children, who ranged from 1 to 8 years old, were reported missing by their mother Sept. 3, authorities said.
Jarrett told a news conference that authorities were not sure why Jones drove through Alabama.
Back in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, Johnny Hyder said that when the Joneses lived next door, the children were often dressed in dirty clothes and were seen home at all hours of the day because Tim Jones had said he didn't believe in the public schools. Hyder said Jones was constantly looking for a reason to argue and often threatened to call the police. He said Jones approached him with a gun on his hip one day and was angry about something, but Hyder couldn't remember what it was. When Hyder said he was going to call police, he said Jones told him it was only a BB gun.
"It wasn't a BB gun," Hyder said. "It was a real gun. I know what one looks like, but I didn't want to cause any more trouble."
Marlene Hyder said Jones threatened to kill one of their dogs when it briefly went onto his property.
"He was a nut," she said.
Marlene Hyder said she also remembered a day when one of the Joneses' younger children came over to the Hyders' house and tried to drink out of one of their outdoor spigots. He was dirty and disheveled and ran back to his house when she tried to speak to him, she said.
A "no trespassing" sign was posted near the driveway of a house where the Hyders said Tim Jones' ex-wife still lived with the other neighbor. Several people were seen walking around the yard, but none responded to questions from a reporter.
Updated at 11:20 a.m. with new information from Acting Sheriff Lewis McCarty of Lexington County.
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