Official charges and details have been released surrounding the murder of 33-year old Kathryn Scott in Jacksonville.
Scott was found deceased in a van by police officers in the 200 block of West Beecher Avenue in the early morning hours on Monday.
According to charging documents and a petition to detain filed Thursday in Morgan County Circuit Court, 43-year old Joshua E. Jones of the 1600 block of Lakeview Terrace has been charged with 3 counts of first degree murder and 6 counts of Class X felony armed habitual criminal.
According to probable cause statements filed in the petition to deny Jones pretrial release, Jacksonville Police responded to approximately 7 shots being fired in the vicinity of the 200 block of West Beecher Avenue just before 4AM on Monday. Upon arrival, officers canvassed the area in order corroborate the shots fired report. While canvassing the area, officers located a bloody knife in the backyard of one residence and then, in the backyard of a neighboring residence officers located a barbecue grill that appeared to have been damaged by gunshots. In the same area near the grill, officers located a bag containing several knives and a .38 caliber revolver containing 3 spent rounds and a live round. Officers also located 6 spent .40 caliber shell casings behind the residence, as well. During the continued search, officers located Jones and Jones’ juvenile daughter under a tarp in bushes behind one of the homes. Officers reported that both Jones and his daughter were covered in blood. Officers took Jones into custody without further incident after locating a .40 caliber handgun with an empty magazine in the vicinity of where they had been hiding.
Officers then reported that Jones voluntarily admitted to killing a man in the area and leaving their body in a van parked along West Beecher Avenue in front of one of the residences. Officers then began looking for the potential victim and located a Chevy van registered to Jones down the street, just a few homes from where Jones had been located. Inside the van, officers found Scott deceased with multiple stab wounds and “several knives stuck in her body” according to the report. Jones’ daughter was taken into protective custody and Jones’ was then transported to the Jacksonville Police Department for questioning.
According to a report of the interview conducted at the police department, Jones waived rights to have an attorney present, and claimed to police that an unknown Latino male had assaulted his daughter and that they had driven from their residence at Lakeview Terrace in an attempt to locate the man. Jones then allegedly told police that he located the man and killed him in the van. When describing the Latino man to police, officers say that Jones allegedly provided a similar description of clothes that Scott had been wearing at the time her body was discovered. Jones said that once he had killed the man in the van, he and his daughter exited the van because he believed they were being chased by several other Latino men who were coming to hurt them. Jones then admitted to owning the firearms that police found, despite knowing it was illegal to own them due to his prior felony record. He then allegedly admitted to police that he fired some of the weapons in an attempt to scare away the men he believed that were chasing him and his daughter. He then told police that the alleged assault by the Latino man would have been recorded on his home surveillance camera.
Officers are said to have spoken to neighbors to the Lakeview Terrace address and the neighbors reported hearing a man and woman arguing loudly the night of the murder.
Preliminary autopsy reports filed with the petition to deny pretrial release found that Scott died from 27 stab wounds that were located on her back and blunt force trauma to the head.
A follow up interview was conducted by Jacksonville Police Detectives on Tuesday with Jones at the Morgan County Jail where he again signed a waiver of rights to have an attorney present. During the interview, Jones told detectives that he and Scott had been arguing the night of the murder at their home in South Jacksonville prior to getting into the van and driving to West Beecher Avenue. Jones allegedly admitted to police that he and Scott had “been using methamphetamine for several days and had not slept.” Jones said that Scott had been hallucinating that people were in their house and he had attempted to calm her down, before blacking out. Jones then said that “a funny man” was in the van during the next portion of events that he remembered and that he believed the remainder of his memories of the night in question were a dream before he eventually quit talking to police.
An Illinois State Police report indicates that crime scene investigators processed the van and found a bag containing 4 more firearms inside along with various magazines and ammunition.
The pretrial motion to deny release indicated that Jones had forcible felonies with prison sentences for residential burglary in 1999 and burglary in 2004, as well as drug convictions and minor misdemeanors.
According to online court records, Morgan County Judge Chris Reif denied Jones pretrial release with ankle monitoring, which was requested by Morgan County Public Defender Devin Vaughn. Jones remains held at the Morgan County Jail and is next due in Morgan County Circuit Court on August 20th for a preliminary hearing.