Source: Investigators fear father fed young son to pigs after beating him to death
Posted: Nov 27, 2015 5:58 PM EST
Updated: Nov 29, 2015 8:42 AM EST
By Chris Oberholtz, Digital Producer
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By Emily Rittman, News Reporter
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By Betsy Webster, News Reporter
A gruesome investigation in KCK includes sickening suspicions that a father fed his 7-year-old son to pigs after beating him to death, a source close to the case says.
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Michael A. Jones, 44, is in the Wyandotte County Jail being held on an enormously high bond of $10 million.
The charges are for aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery and child abuse, but the bond is higher than for most murders.
The Piper-area home that Jones and his 29-year-old wife, Heather Jones, lived in is valued at more than $225,000. But the backyard is littered with junk, as well as toys for their children.
Two women who often cared for the kids say the conditions inside were deplorable.
"Their house was horrible," said one woman who asked for anonymity. "Their house was just filthy. The kids lived in filth. Trash everywhere. Dried food all over the house.”
The women say eight children, ranging from ages 1 to 11, lived inside the home in the 5200 block of N. 99th Street.
Police came to the home Wednesday morning on a report of Michael Jones attacking his wife and firing a gun at her. As the investigation progressed, someone told them to check for the decomposed body of a missing 7-year-old boy.
By the next day, they were searching a barn on the property where they discovered human remains.
Michael Jones is now charged with battering and assaulting his wife on Wednesday but also with "torturing or cruelly beating" his 7-year-old son sometime between May 1 and Sept. 28.
The former babysitters say several people contacted the Kansas Department For Children and Families with concerns about the children. They fear the remains found belong to the boy, and they say they’re watching closely to make sure justice is served.
The women say the seven other children are safe and in protective custody.
“For all those girls to have to witness what their brother went through and to carry the burden that something happened to their brother is horrible,” an old babysitter said.
It's a timeline that terrifies the child's former babysitters, who say Jones' wife added livestock to the barn this fall.
“She went and got pigs in September,” she said.
A police source says investigators fear the remains are the result of the child being fed to pigs after being beaten to death. Those remains have yet to be identified.
Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome A. Gorman says the $10 million bond is the highest a judge has ever granted in the 34 years he's been with the district attorney’s office.
“Judge Alvey granted bond based upon a number of flight factors and safety factors," Gorman said.
Michael Jones is affiliated with a bail bonding company that operates in Topeka. He is expected to have a first appearance in Wyandotte County District Court on Monday.
KCTV5 News made multiple attempts to reach out to family members for comment but have not heard back.
Anyone with information concerning the case is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
Copyright 2015 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
Read more:
http://www.kctv5.com/story/30617948/source-investigators-fear-father-fed-young-son-to-pigs-after-beating-him-to-death#ixzz3t3yxugKd
