Suspect in Phoenix-area homicides killed himself, police say

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As police closed in, a man suspected of gunning down four people last week shot himself to death Monday, and authorities said they have linked him to two other slayings beyond those of a prominent psychiatrist, two paralegals and a marriage-and-divorce counselor.

The first person who was killed had testified in court against Dwight Lamon Jones, court records showed.

Police believe the 56-year-old also killed a man and a woman whose bodies were discovered Monday in the Phoenix suburb of Fountain Hills.

Authorities in Arizona said they spent a day and a half tracking Jones, eventually finding him at an extended-stay hotel in Scottsdale. Officers evacuated nearby rooms before hearing gunfire and finding his body.

Steven Pitt, a psychiatrist who was killed Thursday, evaluated Jones during divorce proceedings and testified against him in September 2010.

Pitt, who also assisted in high-profile cases including the JonBenet Ramsey mystery in Colorado, told a court that Jones had anxiety and mood disorders and features of a paranoid personality, according to court records.

Veleria Sharp and Laura Anderson, both paralegals who were killed Friday, worked for the law firm that represented Jones’ wife during the divorce.

The raid came as police identified the fourth victim, Marshall Levine, a 72-year-old counselor and life coach. He was found Saturday in an office park that houses mostly therapists and counselors.

Pitt was found dead near Scottsdale after witnesses reported hearing a loud argument and gunfire outside his office.

Sharp and Anderson, who were both in their late 40s, were shot Friday inside a law office. One of the women managed to walk to an intersection to seek help despite a gunshot wound to her head. She was taken to a hospital where she died, police said.

Officers followed a blood trail back to the office and found the other woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A decade after the JonBenet Ramsey case, the 59-year-old Pitt helped Phoenix police in the Baseline Killer investigation as they sought a man who was later convicted of killing nine people.

Karen Flansburg, who lives a few blocks from the hotel where Jones was staying, said she saw helicopters outside and while, watching television, saw her own neighborhood on the news.

“I didn’t know it was here, so close to home,” she said.

Dave Kibble is staying at a nearby Holiday Inn while he looks into relocating to Scottsdale, which he called the “safest, cleanest place” he had ever seen.

He did not feel at risk after learning that the first two murder scenes were linked, saying the public was never “in any kind of danger.”