Terry M. Jones

 VICTIMS: 3

"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 misdemeanour 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."
 

MY OPINION

I think this story is really sad. Even for poor old Terry. Sure, he was stupid, but sometimes we all get a little jealous about the one's we love. And even though most of us aren't dumb enough to be jealous of an 'email affair', I'm sure that we can understand the guys feelings. So don't hate Terry for what he did, just laugh at him.