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Terry M. JONES

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

   
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Parricide
Number of victims: 3
Date of murder: January 12, 1999
Date of birth: 1946
Victims profile: His wife Jennifer Jones, 34, and their children, Jesse, 8, and Tessa, 4
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Anderson, Indiana, USA
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the same day
 
 
 
 
 
 

"My boy's dead. My wife is dead. My daughter's dead. And now I'm going to be dead on account of this goddamned computer,'' Terry Jones, 53, said on the 911 tape. The dispatcher then heard a gunshot, followed by moaning.

What Jones was referring to was an affair he believed his wife was having over the internet. It seems that this was basically just paranoia, as no one other than Jones himself knows anything about such an affair. But it was real to him.

So real that he chose to end his life over it. Oh yeah, and his wife and two kids had to die as well.

But before we get into the night of January 14, 1999, let's have a look at the only background information that I know about the happy couple.

That fateful night was the first time that police had been at the residence at 5466 W. 900N since February 1997, when Donna Jones reported her phone line had been cut and her husband and some guns were gone. She told police she filed for divorce and believed these acts to be retaliation by Terry Jones after being served with the divorce paperwork.

Jones was convicted of misdemeanor battery, which also was the reason his Sept. 20, 1998, application for a handgun permit was denied. Luckily he lived in the United States, the land of the free, and he was able to get hold of a gun without this permit. (sarcasm mode on) It must make Americans so proud that they have this freedom.

Okay, let's go back to that fateful day. Jennie Cunningham, the Jones's snooping neighbor who was very quick to tell reporters everything she knew about the family, said that late in the afternoon, her husband, Walt, had returned from an ice fishing trip to New Castle and stopped in the driveway to talk to Jones, who was shoveling snow.

Jones, who Jennie Cunningham said was retired from General Motors at Muncie, shared Walt Cunningham's love of hunting and fishing. She said she suspected that whatever provoked Jones to kill his family and himself must have been "spur of the moment."

"He was hoping to go ice fishing Saturday," she said. "He wouldn't clean off his driveway and make plans to go ice fishing if he was planning on killing himself that night." Great intuition there Jennie. She must have taken hours to figure that one out.

So, now you know that it was "spur of the moment", I guess that you want to know what actually happened. Well I don't know. I can guess though.

Terry Jones accused his wife of "cyber shagging around', she denied it, he got very mad, then "BANG!"

According to the sheriff, Jones shot his wife and their children, 8-year-old Jesse and 4-year-old Tessa, in their rural home in Frankton, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis then dialed 911 and asked the dispatchers whether they were recording the call.

"I just killed my wife. I just killed both my kids," he can be heard saying on the tape.

According to the autopsy report Jones fired one shot into his 34-year-old wife's head and one into her chest. She died on her kitchen floor dressed in her night clothes.

Their daughter, Tessa, who would have turned 5 at the end of the month, died from a .22-caliber bullet that struck her in the right eye, according to the autopsy. Their son, Jesse, 8, died from another bullet fired from the rifle. It struck him in the forehead, Madison County Coroner Marian Dunnichay said. Jesse Jones died at 1:08 a.m. Wednesday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. He attended Frankton Elementary School.

Jones then used a .44-caliber handgun to fire three shots into his chest. The amusing thing is that he was still on the phone to a 911 operator at the time.

Terry Jones was conscious when police arrived at the Jones home eight minutes later but didn't talk with police. Jones died at Community Hospital at Anderson shortly after arrival.

Jennie "I'm a nosy bitch who really wants to see myself on television looking like I give a fuck" Cunningham said, "I just feel awful about the kids . . . He was seemingly so close to the kids."

The Wacky World of Murder

 
 

Terry M. Jones

January 13, 1999

In Indiana, 53-year-old Terry M. Jones shot his wife and two children before calling police and taking his own life.

Jones' wife, Jennifer, 34, and the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Tessa, were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting at their home near Frankton, a town of 1,700 people about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Jones died later at Community Hospital in Anderson, and the couple's 8-year-old son, Jesse, died early today at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, said Sheriff Terry Richwine.

 
 

Terry M. Jones

January 15, 1999

Police released the tape of Terry Jones' 911 call moments before he took his own life. Over the phone, Terry told the dispacher he killed his wife and two children because he thought his wife was having an affair via the Internet.

"My boy's dead. My wife is dead. My daughter's dead. And now I'm going to be dead on account of this goddamned computer." Following the confession the dispatcher heard a gunshot. Sheriff Terry Richwine said it is unclear whether Jones' 34-year-old wife, Jennifer, really was having an affair over the Internet.

Terry Jones, 53, fired one shot into his 34-year-old wife's head and one into her chest. She died on her kitchen floor dressed in her night clothes. Their daughter, Tessa, who would have turned 5 at the end of the month, died from a .22-caliber bullet that struck her in the right eye. Their son, Jesse, 8, died from another bullet fired from the rifle. It struck him in the forehead.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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