The Murder Tapes is investigating six days of terror instigated by killer Dwight Lamon Jones in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2018.
In 2009, Dwight Lamon Jones and Connie Jones ended their marriage in a bitter divorce. Nine whole years passed by without major incident, but it seems Dwight’s anger had been building over the years, which led him to go on a shooting spree where he mostly targeted people who had been associated with his divorce.
In the couple of weeks before the murders, Jones’s anger appeared to boil over publicly; he was furiously tweeting allegations that his ex-wife had molested their son.
On May 31, Jones shot dead the well-known forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Pitt, outside his office. Pitt had examined and testified against Jones in the divorce case.
The next day, Jones attacked and killed two paralegals, Veleria Sharp and Laura Anderson, outside the law firm where they both worked. Their crime in Jones’s eyes was that a lawyer from the firm had worked on his divorce case.
On June 2, Jones shot dead Marshall Levine, a psychologist, and counselor, who was letting offices from someone who had counseled Jones’s son during the divorce case.
By this stage, the police realized that the same firearm was being used in each shooting, and they knew they were after a sick serial killer.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelA retired detective with a hunch
A breakthrough came in the case when a retired Phoenix police detective had a hunch that the crime scenes were all connected to Jones’s divorce. He was the current husband of Jones’s ex-wife, and he alerted his ex-colleagues when he noticed the pattern.
A DNA sample was then taken from a relative of Jones and was a match to DNA located on one of the shell casings. The police knew then that they had their man; they just needed to find him.
The police subsequently learned that Jones had spent the last nine years staying at Extended Stay America hotel in a suburb of Scottsdale. They quietly surrounded the premises and began evacuating the other guests.
In the meantime, the police learned of two more murders, Mary Simmons, 70, and Bryon Thomas, 72, who were killed at a home in Fountain Hills. That put the number of victims at six.
As a SWAT team closed in on Jones’s hotel room, he opened fire on the cops before turning the gun on himself and ending his own life. Thankfully, none of the officers were injured.
Jones had previously been in trouble with the cops over his marriage. He had been arrested nine years beforehand on allegations that he had mistreated his wife and son.
More from The Murder Tapes
Follow the Links to read about more murders profiled on The Murder Tapes.
Robert Marzejka attacked his sister, Danielle Marzejka, and her boyfriend Seren Byran, with a hammer as they slept. He then bound up their limbs and asphyxiated them before dumping their remains in trash bags in a shed at the back of the house.
Previously, The Murder Tapes looked at the tragic case of 16-year-old Jeffrey Franklin, who was callously murdered by his adopted parents Ernest and Heather Franklin. The depraved parents tried to hide the killing of the disabled child by setting fire to their home.
The Murder Tapes airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.