A Kansas man is being held on $10 million bond as police investigate claims he beat his 7-year-old son to death and fed the boy’s body to the family’s pigs.
Cops arrested Michael A. Jones, 44, last Wednesday after he allegedly fired a gun at his 29-year-old wife, Heather. Not long after, investigators learned the boy was missing and acted on a tip that his decomposed body was buried on the property, KCTV reported.
On Thanksgiving Day, police found human remains in a barn at Jones’s Kansas City residence. The remains have yet to be identified, but a police source told KCTV that authorities fear the remains were fed to swine.
Meanwhile, Heather Jones, who is the boy’s stepmother and whom police haven’t charged, appears to have confirmed the family’s worst fears in a series of public Facebook comments, telling one friend she identified the child’s skull.
Michael Jones—a bail bondsman and fight promoter— faces charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a firearm, and child abuse. He is expected to appear in Wyandotte County court on Monday.
Authorities accuse Jones of “torturing or cruelly beating” his 7-year-old son sometime between May 1 and Sept. 28, KCTV reported.
A former babysitter described a hellish situation inside the bail bonds office to The Daily Beast.
“[Heather] didn’t like any of Mike’s kids,” the insider said. “She always treated [the 7-year-old] differently and was mean to him. He would stand in the corner for hours at a time. He would tell me he’s hungry… and I’d sneak him food.”
The former employee said she worked in the bail bonds office and as a babysitter. She described Michael Jones as a “good boss” who trained her well but whose business began to unravel because of his on-again, off-again relationship with his wife. “I never saw him lay a hand on his kids,” the worker said.
“This happened at Heather’s house, as well as his,” the caretaker added. “It don’t add up to me. This has taken a huge toll on all of our hearts.”
“This little boy didn’t deserve to be missing and no one reporting it. Dying and not knowing unconditional love. That hurts. He was loved and he died thinking that he wasn’t,” the sitter told The Daily Beast.
Former babysitters told KCTV that several people called child welfare officials over concerns about the Jones’ kids.
They said eight kids, ages 1 to 11, lived at the rural four-bedroom home, which records show is valued at $257,000.
On the outside, the Jones’ property was cluttered with junk and children’s toys, and the couple reportedly added livestock to their barn in September.
Inside, their 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home was a “filthy” house of horrors. “Their house was horrible,” one babysitter told KCTV. “Their house was just filthy. The kids lived in filth. Trash everywhere. Dried food all over the house.”
Neighbors told KCTV that the stepmother was pregnant when the Joneses moved in two years ago. At the time, Heather Jones allegedly said she had seven kids and that she was home-schooling them.
The residents said they never saw the children, KCTV reported.
Jones did not return messages left by The Daily Beast.
Her brother, Michael Williams, told 41 Action News that Heather suffered years of abuse by her husband.
“There are bullet holes in the walls of that house. So I’m sure you can understand what terror may have been going through that household daily,” Williams said.
“She’s horrified, still terrified of losing her children,” he added. “She’s still in fear for her own life and the lives of her kids.”
Still, some of Heather’s friends wasted no time in speaking out against her.
“I want justice to be done for this child, and I don’t think she handled things the way she should have,” one longtime friend told The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity. “Them two have done nothing but fight all these years.”
“The kids were around guns and all this shooting,” the family friend added. “She’s not in jail right now. We’re wondering why.”
The acquaintance said last week’s alleged shooting incident wasn’t the first: Heather and Michael Jones had previously been jailed for firing at each other, and Heather Jones temporarily lost custody of the kids, the family friend said. (That claim could not yet be confirmed by The Daily Beast.)
“They were a hot mess,” the friend fumed.
On social media, friends and strangers bashed Heather Jones for failing to help the little boy, now believed to be dead.
“When u think u know someone for many many years!!!!” one former pal commented on a Facebook post, adding, “I've tried to help her many of times to get out of that situation, but she refused every time!!!”
The friend claimed the Joneses not only had a barn full of pigs, but recently brought home giant snakes. “Fingers are just pointing one direction, but they need to be pointing another direction,” the friend said.
On another friend’s Facebook post, an account belonging to Heather Jones fired back.
“Go ahead on and delete me from you Facebook my dear I had nothing to do with this,” Jones apparently wrote on Nov. 27, a day after the gruesome discovery. “If I did I would have been arrested.”
“Mike shot at me 17 bullet holes in my house while holding my daughter just 2 days ago I’ve got broken bones and am lucky to be alive,” she wrote.
In a series of comments, Jones allegedly said, “Not a single person claiming to be family knew where I lived or has been to my house mike moved us round and round to be sure no one got close.”
“My baby is not alive and mike fed him to a pig and kept his skull fuck helping shit now I don’t have my kids!!!!!” she continued.
“I had to identify my babies head I need not explain my fear of him and the fact that he does have a bond now,” Jones added.
A review of Heather Jones’s Facebook profile shows a happy video posted with six of the children, as well pictures of her swimming pool and renovated bathroom. Nothing indicates the 7-year-old vanished.
Indeed, Jones appeared to show more concern over her missing dog this month than the welfare of the boy.
“He has never not come home!” Jones posted on Facebook regarding the dog. “He explores the fields but is ALWAYS under my feet whenever I’m outside …. Something has happened and I don’t know where to start looking for him.”
Over the summer, the stepmom posted images of costume jewelry and knockoff Michael Kors watches for sale, along with a video of a motivational speech made by Sylvester Stallone’s character in Rocky Balboa.
“Hopefully more people listen, pay attention, soak it in & make changes accordingly,” Jones wrote on July 2. “I didn’t came from NOTHING & had a childhood that most people have nightmares about...
“Now I live in a $500,000 house, have nice vehicles and I don’t need or want for nothing but it takes HARD WORK, DEDICATION, DEVOTION, a whole lot more WORK some people kill me with their excuses!!”
