The Criminal

Meet The Dad That Murdered All 5 Of His Young Children Right After Coming Back From Disney World With Them

Authorities weren’t able to put out an Amber Alert for Amber’s children, because Timothy was still their legal guardian, but it didn’t stop them from launching a huge search to find them. 

Shortly after Timothy failed to show up at Chick-fil-A, he showed up at a Mississippi DUI checkpoint….alone. Authorities say he rolled up to the checkpoint in his Cadillac Escalade, “high as a kite.” Timothy was using synthetic marijuana, which is called Spice and apparently readily available for purchase online.

His SUV had blood in it, along with children’s clothes and cleaning supplies, but there was no sign of any children. They also uncovered several notes Timothy had written about chopping bodies up. One of the officers on the scene later told the courtroom that inside his SUV, it smelled like you wouldn’t believe. He described it as a “stench of death in the air.” After running his license plate, they were able to connect Timothy to Amber’s missing persons report. Officers were then able to get Timothy to take them to the children.

Twitter; pictured above is Timothy while he appears in court, wearing a button-down shirt and tie

On a lonely hilltop in Camden, Alabama, authorities found the children. All 5 of them had been wrapped up in plastic garbage bags.

Timothy had taken the children on vacation to Disney World and to the beach, before coming home, having the phone incident with Amber, and then murdering Merah Gracie, Nahtahn, Gabriel, Abigail Elizabeth, and Elias.

Timothy drove around for over a week in his Cadillac Escalade with all 5 of his children dead in the back

He then packed their bodies into his SUV and drove around for over a week through several different states in the South. Their bodies badly decomposed as Timothy drove around with them. He then came across the hilltop and decided to leave all 5 of them there before driving off.

Here’s what Timothy did to all 5 of his children and why he did it.

Timothy’s attorneys said in court that the reason he snapped is that he had schizophrenia that went undiagnosed. His own mom spent 20 long years in a mental institution, although it’s not clear why she was institutionalized. They claim Timothy already had a shaky grip on life, but when Amber cheated on him, he completely lost it. 

Couple that with how hard it is to raise 5 young children all alone and him feeling like he simply couldn’t live up to the religious beliefs he felt were so important to his life, and it was just too much for Timothy.

There was one incident in particular that really caused Timothy to go off the deep end though. And to top it off, apparently, this dad has a criminal record, paired with Department of Social Services investigations…

Twitter; pictured above is a photo from inside the courtroom, where a forensic scientist confirmed there were hair and tissue samples from the children inside Timothy’s car

The day after all 5 children had been found deceased, Timothy Jones Sr., Timothy’s dad, took to his front porch in Amory, Mississippi, to make a statement to the media. 

“Let it be known that people will come to their own conclusions and as parents we can understand that decision based on the circumstances. But please remember that our Little Tim is a very loving father, brother and son.”

On March 30, 2001, Timothy was arrested in Carpentersville, Illinois for possession of cocaine. This was the beginning of his long list of run-ins with the law. Just 6 months after this, at 19-years-old, he was arrested again. This time it was for forged checks, burglary, and stealing someone’s car. 

Twitter; pictured above Amber testifies against her ex-husband in court

The nurse at Saxe Gotha Elementary School, where some of their children went, testified in court that Timothy wanted to treat their oldest daughter when she got head lice by using kerosene and a heat gun to burn them off her head. The nurse was able to talk to him and convince him this was not a good idea, and she then reported this to officials at the elementary school.

Officials at the school ended up calling the Department of Social Services over this. They then placed a second call to the Department of Social Services because Nahtahn came in with bruises all along his neck and arm.

Over the course of 3 years, the Department of Social Services went to Timothy’s home to investigate issues at least 12 times. Social workers reported that he tried to fix the issues they investigated though, which included punishing the children excessively.

In a report one of the caseworkers had filed, it said, “Dad appears to be overwhelmed as he is unable to maintain the home, but the children appear to be clean, groomed and appropriately dressed.” 

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