The Timothy Jones Jr. case is the prosecution of a South Carolina father who murdered his five young children in August 2014, drove their bodies across three states, and was sentenced to death in 2019 after a jury rejected his insanity defense. The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence in March 2023. Jones remains on death row at the Broad River Secure Facility, and no execution date has been set. The children’s mother later reached a $1.5 million settlement with the state agencies that had investigated the family before the killings.
The Killings in August 2014
On August 28, 2014, Jones picked up his five children — Merah, 8; Elias, 7; Nahtahn, 6; Gabriel, 2; and Abigail, 1 — from school and daycare in Lexington County. According to his confession and evidence at trial, he first punished six-year-old Nahtahn by shaking him by the shoulders until the boy collapsed and stopped breathing. He then strangled Elias and Merah with his hands and used a belt to strangle Gabriel and Abigail.1FindLaw. State v. Jones
Prosecutors argued the killings were driven by what Solicitor Rick Hubbard called Jones’s “white hot rage” toward Nahtahn, who had told his father he wanted to live with his mother. Hubbard described Nahtahn as the “focal point” of the case, with the other four murders following in sequence.2The State. Solicitor Hubbard’s Closing Argument in Timothy Jones Jr. Trial
Jones placed each child in a separate garbage bag, loaded the bodies into his Cadillac Escalade, and drove aimlessly across the Southeast for roughly nine days.3BBC News. Timothy Jones Jr. Sentenced to Death for Killing Five Children Investigators later recovered a handwritten note from the vehicle reading, “Day 1: Burn up bodies. Day 2: Sand down bones.” His internet search history included queries on extradition, landfills, and dumpsites.4FindLaw. State v. Jones He eventually dumped the bodies off Highway 10 in a rural stretch of Wilcox County, Alabama, near the town of Camden.5WIS-TV. Bodies of 5 Missing Lexington County Children Found in Alabama
Arrest at a Mississippi Checkpoint
Amber Jones reported her ex-husband and the five children missing on September 3, 2014. Three days later, deputies stopped Jones at a public safety checkpoint in Smith County, Mississippi. Officers reported smelling burnt marijuana and what one deputy called the “stench of death” coming from the SUV.6BBC News. Bodies of Five Children Found Near Alabama Highway A search turned up synthetic marijuana, bleach, muriatic acid, charcoal fluid, and the disposal note. A background check flagged the South Carolina missing-persons report.4FindLaw. State v. Jones
Jones confessed shortly after his arrest. On September 9, he led detectives from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the FBI to the Alabama site, where the children’s remains were recovered around 5:00 p.m. The bodies were so severely decomposed and damaged by animal activity that they were unrecognizable.5WIS-TV. Bodies of 5 Missing Lexington County Children Found in Alabama
DSS Warnings Before the Murders
Between 2011 and August 2014, the South Carolina Department of Social Services investigated the Jones household at least three times and never removed the children.
The first case opened in September 2011 after a neglect complaint. Investigators found the family’s home in disarray during a renovation, and the case was closed when Jones took the children to Mississippi.7NBC News. Timothy Ray Jones Was Probed Twice for Abuse Before Murder of Kids
In May 2014, a teacher at Saxe Gotha Elementary School reported that Nahtahn had come to school with bruises on his neck and arms. DSS classified the case as high-priority. Jones admitted to a caseworker that he had grabbed the boy by the collar and spanked him. The agency put in place a safety plan prohibiting physical discipline and closed the case in July 2014.8WACH. DSS Worker Says Timothy Jones Agreed to Safety Plan
Weeks before the killings, DSS opened a third case after a report that Jones had beaten Elias and was feeding the children a single 20-piece McNuggets meal to share. Caseworkers noted he appeared “overwhelmed” and posed a “high risk of danger to the children,” but again concluded removal was unnecessary. Jones signed another safety plan. That investigation was still open when he killed them.7NBC News. Timothy Ray Jones Was Probed Twice for Abuse Before Murder of Kids
Jones had held primary custody of all five children since October 2013, when his divorce from Amber Jones was finalized. Amber received supervised visitation at least every other weekend; a court affidavit noted DSS had previously investigated her for possible neglect and viewed Jones, then employed as an engineer at Intel, as the more capable parent.9WIS-TV. Documents: Tim Jones Jr. Was Highly Intelligent, Capable of Handling Children
The 2019 Trial and Insanity Defense
Jones was indicted on five counts of murder in Lexington County. The state sought the death penalty on two aggravating grounds: that the murders were part of a single course of conduct involving multiple victims, and that all five victims were children under eleven.1FindLaw. State v. Jones
Trial began in May 2019. Jones pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys argued he suffered from schizophrenia and could not distinguish right from wrong when he killed the children, presenting him as an overwhelmed single father with a history of substance abuse and a family background of mental illness and domestic violence.10The State. SC Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence for Timothy Jones Jr.
The prosecution relied heavily on Dr. Richard Frierson, a court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Jones over 19 hours across six sessions. Frierson testified that Jones did not have schizophrenia and was of sound mind at the time of the killings, diagnosing him instead with a substance-induced psychotic disorder linked to synthetic marijuana. He suggested Jones had tried to “convince himself that he had schizophrenia as a way to cope with what he did.”11ABC Columbia. Court-Appointed Psychiatrist Says Timothy Jones Jr. Does Not Have Schizophrenia Neuropsychologist Dr. Kimberly Kruse testified that Jones was malingering, or deliberately exaggerating symptoms.1FindLaw. State v. Jones
After a 21-day trial featuring more than 60 witnesses, the jury rejected the insanity defense and convicted Jones on all five counts on June 4, 2019.1211th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Solicitor Hubbard’s Statement Following Timothy Jones Jr. Death Penalty Trial In the penalty phase, the same jury deliberated about two hours before unanimously recommending death. Judge Eugene Griffith adopted that recommendation and formally sentenced Jones on June 13, 2019.3BBC News. Timothy Jones Jr. Sentenced to Death for Killing Five Children
The 2023 Supreme Court Appeal
Jones raised eight issues on direct appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court, grouped around jury selection, the trial court’s refusal to tell jurors what would happen after an insanity acquittal, and several evidentiary rulings during sentencing, including the exclusion of a defense expert and the admission of graphic autopsy photographs.1FindLaw. State v. Jones
On March 29, 2023, the court affirmed both the conviction and the death sentence. It acknowledged that the trial court had committed some evidentiary errors but held they were harmless. On jury instructions about the consequences of an insanity verdict, the court noted a national trend toward requiring such instructions and expressly declined to follow it in South Carolina.13vLex. State v. Jones, 440 S.C. 214 The court also upheld the Mississippi checkpoint stop, finding its primary purpose was highway safety rather than general crime detection.1FindLaw. State v. Jones
Amber Jones’s $1.5 Million Settlement With DSS
In 2016, Amber Jones sued the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the Lexington County Department of Social Services, alleging they failed to protect her children despite repeated warnings. Her complaint described Timothy Jones Jr. as a “well-documented child abuser” and argued that caseworkers recorded he was overwhelmed and dangerous yet “didn’t do much more than file safety plans.”14WIS-TV. Mother to Receive $1.5M Settlement From SC Agencies After Husband Kills Her 5 Children
On July 25, 2024, State Judge Debra McCaslin approved a $1.5 million settlement paid by the South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund in three installments. Both agencies denied liability. Amber Jones’s attorneys, state Senator Dick Harpootlian and co-counsel Hyman Rubin, received $600,000 of the settlement plus roughly $51,000 in expenses. Harpootlian said the amount was not enough but that his client was “glad to put this behind them,” adding that he hoped the case sent “a strong message to DSS that they need to take action when they get complaints and they see a pattern.”15The State. Settlement Details in Amber Jones Lawsuit Against SC DSS
Where the Case Stands Now
Jones is housed at the Broad River Secure Facility with an active death sentence and is not eligible for release, parole, or supervised reentry. Prison records from September 2025 show he was sanctioned for refusing orders and striking an employee, losing canteen, telephone, and visitation privileges.16South Carolina Department of Corrections. Inmate Details: Timothy Ray Jones Jr.
No execution date has been set. Under South Carolina’s current protocols, condemned inmates choose among lethal injection, the electric chair, or a firing squad, but execution notices are issued only after a defendant has exhausted normal appeals in state and federal courts.17The State. South Carolina Death Row Inmates Jones may still pursue state post-conviction relief and, potentially, federal habeas corpus. South Carolina’s death row inmates spend an average of 21 years in prison before execution while appeals are considered.18SC Daily Gazette. SC Attorney General Joins Push to Speed Up Death Row Appeals Process The state resumed executions in 2024 after a 13-year hiatus, but Jones’s case has not yet reached that stage.