5 Kids Found Dead in Alabama: Their Father Confessed He Killed Them

Five little children, three brothers and two sisters, were found dead on an old dirt road in Alabama, each individually wrapped in plastic garbage bags. Their father, 32-year-old Timothy Jones, confessed to killing them.

MSN reports that Jones, who is divorced from the children’s mother, had joint custody of the youngsters who resided in South Carolina. The mother began to get worried when she couldn’t reach her ex-husband and contacted authorities.

She reported her children as missing “to the Sheriff’s Department at 6:11pm on Wednesday, September 3,” according to The Clarion-Ledger. It was at that time that all five of the children, ages 1-year-old to 8-years-old, and their father were entered as missing persons on the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer database.

As investigations began, police were informed by Timothy Jones’ neighbors that Jones had told them he was taking the children and moving to a different state.

Jones just happened to get stopped at a driver’s license checkpoint near Raleigh, Mississippi Saturday night. Sheriff Charlie Crumpton tells MSN that Jones’ behavior indicated that he was driving under the influence. Jones began to get upset when a deputy began asking him about a pungent smell that was coming from inside Jones’ Cadillac Escalade.

The police removed Jones from his vehicle, and as they searched, the police found chemicals used to make the street drug Spice, which is a form of synthetic marijuana. There were also other liquids found that seemed to be bleach, muriatic acid, blood, and quite possibly, body fluids.

As police ran Jones’ driver’s license, there was nothing out of the ordinary. But when they ran his plates — BINGO! Gotcha! That was when, according to The Clarion-Ledger that the police “discovered that Jones was wanted in South Carolina regarding a welfare concern of his children who were on a national missing persons list. His tag registered a hit with the NCIC, and Jones was taken into custody.

At that moment, Jones was arrested for DUI along with possession of controlled substances. The FBI was then brought in on Monday to begin a search for the missing children.

During Jones’ interrogation on Monday, he confessed that he had killed all five of his children and lead police to their location on a dirt road in Alabama. After a long, exhausting search, the bodies of the children were found.

ABC News talked to a couple, Marlene and Johnny Hyder, who were neighbors of Timothy Jones’ and his wife at the time. The Hyders said the Jones’ moved in right next door to them in a small town near Columbia, SC about seven years ago and remained their neighbors until about two years ago when Timothy’s wife moved in with another man down the street. Timothy soon moved away, taking the children with him.

The Hyders recalled the children dressed in dirty clothes and looked unkempt. They continued to tell ABC News that Timothy Jones didn’t believe in the public school system, so the children were at home a lot of the time.

Johnny Hyder revealed that Timothy Jones was always wanting to start a fight of some sort, warning that he would kill Hyder’s dog after it had briefly walked on Jones’ property. Hyder said Jones had even threatened him with a gun. Marlene Hyder went a step further and did not pull any punches with her opinion of Jones. saying, “He was a nut!”

USA Today reports that the coroner was arranging to transport the childrens’ bodies back to their hometown in South Carolina to be positively identified and for autopsies.

As the investigation continues, Lexington County (SC) Sheriff Lewis McCarty reports that Jones has now been served with an arrest warrant for the charge of “unlawful neglect of a child by a legal custodian.” McCarty continues to say that additional arrest warrants will be issued once he is back in South Carolina.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Sgt. Steve Jarrett ensures that everything will be done properly on this investigation, according to USA Today.

“It is going to be a very detailed processing to ensure that the case is as solid as possible.”

There will be no stone unturned, and all the i’s will be dotted and T’s will be crossed.

Alabama District Attorney Michael Jackson told MSN that it is believed that Jones killed the children in their hometown of South Carolina, then drove to Alabama, dumped their bodies and then continued on to Mississippi. This is a horrifying act to Jackson.

“This is a very tragic situation. These kids’ lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to enjoy life. Justice will be served.”

Mississippi Sheriff Crumpton spoke with a heavy heart, as reported by USA Today.

“I’m a father of two, and I can’t imagine what goes through a man’s head when he does this. It was a horrible, horrible crime. As tragic as it is — and it’s terribly tragic — at least it didn’t last long. We had to get some closure for their mother.”

It’s also hard to imagine what must be going through the mind of the mother who lost all five of her precious children.

Photo Credit: Smith’s County Sheriff’s Department, MSN.com