OCALA, Fla. — A medical examiner found a Marion County woman died from blunt-force trauma, a finding consistent with last week’s report alleging Michael Wayne Jones Jr. beat Casei Jones with a baseball bat.
- Forensic reports pending on four children
- Jones charged with second-degree murder
- Suspect confessed to fatally beating wife July 10
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Monday announced the findings of a Georgia medical examiner, who determined blunt-force trauma killed 32-year-old Casei Jones of Summerfield.
Michael Jones Jr. confessed to beating his wife to death in their home on July 10, an arrest affidavit said.
He is accused of storing her body in the trunk of his vehicle until he was pulled over after a single-vehicle crash in Georgia in mid-September.
Jones entered a not-guilty plea to a charge of second-degree murder.
He is being held without bond at the Marion County Jail.
Jones is also a suspect in the slayings of their four children, but hasn’t been charged in those deaths.
Forensic reports are pending for her Casei Jones's slain children: Cameron, 10, Preston, 5, Mercallie, 2, and Aiyana, 1.
“When we have any new information regarding their autopsies, we will release that information,” said Sgt. Paul Bloom, a spokesman for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. “At this time, no other charges have been brought.”
The bodies of the children and his wife were found in Georgia. Family members worried about their safety reported them missing September 14, prompting an alert from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
A short time later, the Brantley County Sheriff's Office in Georgia responded to a single-vehicle crash and found Michael Jones and smelled a foul order in his vehicle.
He told them about a body in the vehicle. Later, four bodies were found in woods in Charlton County.