A Kansas man pleaded guilty last week to murdering his seven-year-old son and disposing of the body by feeding it to his pigs, a report reveals.
Kansas City, Kansas, resident Michael A. Jones, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of murder after being charged with the 2015 death of his son, Adrian, the Kansas City Star reported.
With his guilty plea, Jones joined his wife, Heather Jones, 31, who also pleaded guilty in November at her own trial for the death of the boy. Heather Jones received a life sentence for her part in the murder and will not be eligible for parole for 25 years. The sentence will likely be repeated for her husband.
According to the investigation into the murder, the couple starved the boy to death and otherwise abused him. They never reported his death when it occurred in September of 2015.
Police discovered the boy’s death after being called to the Jones home for a domestic disturbance between the two adults. While investigating the disagreement between Michael and Heather, police realized that the couple’s son was nowhere to be seen.
Once their attention was turned to the missing boy, police discovered some of his remains in a pig sty in a barn on the property the couple was renting.
Investigators also learned that the child was severely abused throughout his short life.
“He was horribly abused, neglected and ultimately killed,” prosecutor Sheryl Lidtke said at Heather Jones’s sentencing last year. “I’m sure his suffering was unbearable.”
The child’s grandmother expressed relief that the couple was convicted of the murder of the boy.
“It makes me pretty happy,” Judy Conway told the media. “I’m relieved that [Jones] and Heather [Jones] will hopefully be behind bars for the rest of their life. It won’t bring Adrian back, of course, but it makes me feel really good that neither one can hurt another child again.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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