South Carolina father accused of killing kids feared them

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The man accused of killing his five children in South Carolina and dumping their bodies in Alabama feared that they were going to chop him up and feed him to the dogs, a local television station reported, citing arrest records.

Timothy Ray Jones Jr., 32, is being held in South Carolina on murder charges after he allegedly killed his children, ages 1 to 8, and then drove their bodies through five states before dumping them in Alabama, according to authorities.

“Jones stated that he believed the children were going to kill him, chop him up and feed him to the dogs,” an affidavit supporting a Lexington County Sheriff’s Department warrant said, reported WIS-TV, an NBC affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina.

Jones was arrested in Mississippi on Sept. 6 on unrelated charges and led police to the children’s bodies, which he had wrapped in trash bags, authorities said.

Jones, who worked for Intel in Columbia, South Carolina, had legal custody of the children after divorcing their mother, who reported them missing on Sept. 3.

Detectives believe Jones killed his children about a week earlier after picking them up from school and day care, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said.

“The suspect’s vehicle contained a large amount of blood and hand written notes with directions to kill and mutilate bodies,” the arrest warrant said, the television station reported.

Sheriff’s spokesman John Allard said the television station obtained unredacted copies of the arrest warrants from another source and not his department and declined to comment on them.

Jones is scheduled to appear in court in November.