Dad who murdered his five children is sentenced to death

Warning: This story contains graphic detail some might find distressing...

June 13 2019

UPDATE:

A father who murdered his five children was sentenced to death on Thursday.

A jury took less than two hours to decide that Timothy Jones Jr, 37, should be executed.

Timothy Jones Jr, 37, strangled four of his children, Merah, 8, Elias, 7, Gabriel, 2, and Elaine, 1, and after forcing his 6-year-old son Nahtahn to exercise until he died as punishment for breaking an electrical outlet in August 2014 in Lexington, South Carolina.

Jones was found guilty of killing his children on June 4 after pleading guilty by means of insanity.

The sentence came despite a plea from Jones’ ex-wife, Amber Kyzer, who was the mother of the kids, to spare his life. She said her kids’ love for their father was her reason.

His lawyers argued at the trial that Timothy Jones was totally dependent on smoking synthetic marijuana five times a day after finding out his wife had left him and the kids to live with a 19-year-old neighbor.

But his own dad said a family history that did not help his mental state. Witnesses spoke about his mother’s schizophrenia and three generations of rapes, molestation by relatives, violence, drugs, voodoo rituals, prostitution, and fights in Jones’ family.

But the jury was not swayed and unanimously decided Jones should be put to death for his horrific crime. 

 

EARLIER

A father accused of killing his five children confessed he panicked that they were plotting to kill him after he heard voices in his head.

Timothy Jones Jr, from the US state of South Carolina, is standing trial for the murder of his five children, but is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

He is facing the death penalty for the crime after driving hundreds of miles with their bodies in his SUV before disposing of them in Alabama.

 Back in 2014, prosecutors say Jones killed his son Nahtahn, 6, after his son broke an electrical outlet in their mobile home.

He went on to strangle his oldest child, his 8-year-old daughter Merah, and his 7-year-old son, Elias, with his hands, prosecutors say.

Then, prosecutors allege, he wrapped a belt around the necks of his 2-year-old son, Gabriel, and his youngest child, 1-year-old Abigail, and ended their lives.

The bodies were then placed in garbage bags, and he loaded them in his car and he drove for days through four states, sleeping in the SUV with the bodies in the back, The State reports.

During police questioning at the time, Jones admitted he killed his children but claimed he did so in pre-emptive self-defence before they could "chop him up and feed him to the dogs" according to his arrest warrant.

His former wife, Amber Kyzer, and the mother of the kids, broke down on the stand as she testified emotionally during the case. 

 

 

 

Twitter

Twitter

 

In his confession, Jones said he had taken the children on holiday to Disney World but then snapped when he forced the middle child, Nahtahn, to exercise for hours as punishment after he broke an electrical outlet.

He said when he found the child dead he flew into a rage and strangled the other four kids.

“The voices started kicking in, saying, ‘You better do something, you are [expletive], Tim,’” he said in the confession.

 

Jones said the oldest child, eight-year-old Mera, said, “Daddy, I love you,” as her father wrapped his hands around her neck, FBI agent David Mackey testified.

After all the children were dead, Jones started searching on his smartphone for tips on how to dispose of bodies and get away with crimes, police officers testified.

Jones’ lawyers claim he suffers from undiagnosed schizophrenia, and he snapped when he and his wife split up following her alleged affair with a neighbour. He then had full custody of all the children and broke under the pressue of working and looking after the children.

The trial continues...

 

Related tags