A Florida man is accused of killing his wife and their four young children - who had been missing for six weeks - before storing their bodies in his home and van for six weeks, and then driving to Georgia to dump their remains.
Michael Jones Jr, 38, was arrested in Brantley County, Georgia, on Sunday after crashing his van.
When a deputy arrived at the scene, he reportedly smelled a foul odor coming from Jones' van.
'At this point, Mr. Jones stated to the deputy that 'You may want to put me in handcuffs because there was a dead body inside the vehicle,'' the Brantley County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The deputy at the scene of the crash where Jones made his confession opened it up to discover the body of Casei Jones, 32. Based on Michael's statements to the police, authorities recovered the bodies of their four children in the woods in Charlton County just hours later. Charges have not yet been filed against Jones for the deaths of Aiyana, 1; Mercalli Jones, 2; Preston, 5; and Cameron Bowers, 10. Michael was the father of the two youngest children. Before he was found in Georgia, Jones was suspected of being involved in the disappearance of his wife and children, and had a warrant issued for his arrest for second degree homicide.
'Unfortunately, true evil has poked its head up here in Marion County,' Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a press conference on Monday. 'That's about the only way to describe it.'
Michael allegedly killed his wife and children at their Summerfield, Florida, home and kept the bodies inside the home for several weeks before loading them into his van and driving across the border into Georgia.
Jones was driving in Brantley County at around 7pm on Sunday when he crashed his van.
Levi Strickland, who lives nearby, told News4Jax he heard what sounded like an explosion and rushed to the scene of the crash for help.
'I smelled that smell and it smelled horrible,' Strickland recalled. 'I ain't never smelled that smell in my life.'
Strickland said he initially thought that Jones had soiled himself, but another person who was with him said the odor was that of decomposition. Strickland recalled that Jones' eyes looked 'big,' and that he was trying to get him another Good Samaritan away from the van and was acting 'kinda weird' before deputies responded to the scene.
On Monday, Sheriff Woods did not mince words when talking about Michael Jones' fate.
'As a sheriff of this county, underneath the jail ain't good enough,' he told reporters. 'He has no right to walk the face of this earth. I hate to be him when he stands before the Lord.'
It is not yet clear how Casei and her children were killed.
Authorities say further charges are expected to be filed against Jones.
Casei's family reported the mom and her children missing on Saturday after not seeing them for around six weeks. It is not known why they did not report their disappearance sooner or how Casei died. Speaking before Casei was discovered dead Jones' mother Nikki told Fox35: 'I've never ever been so scared.
'They don't know where she's at. They went to the house and she's gone. The house is empty.
'Casei is my baby, she was my last one. I don't want anything to have happened to her.'
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