Top inset: Alec Jones (Webster County Sheriff’s Office). Bottom inset: Dennis Jones (Laufersweiler Funeral Home). Background: The location in Iowa where Dennis Jones’ body was found (KCCI).
An Iowa man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his father and then dumping his body in a ditch for a mail carrier to find the following day.
Alec Jones, 26, learned his fate on Tuesday in the killing of Dennis Jones, 55, online court records show. He was convicted of first-degree murder in August.
His mother appealed to the judge for mercy, saying her son was “a good boy,” local news website The Messenger reported.
The bloodshed happened on April 25 in their home in Fort Dodge, nearly 100 miles north of Des Moines.
Prosecutor Brad McIntyre argued that on April 26, Jones ultimately admitted to investigators that he shot his father after initially denying it, The Messenger also reported.
Dennis Jones “was hunted and killed by Alec Jones,” McIntyre reportedly said, adding that Alec Jones had also texted his brother saying that “someone was going to end up dead that night.”
Dennis Jones died from three bullets — through the center torso, above his left ear, and through the left forehead, Associate Assistant State Medical Examiner Dr. Rory Deol testified, the Daily Freeman-Journal reported. A toxicology report showed the victim had methamphetamine and amphetamines in his system.
After the killing, the defendant, allegedly helped by his brother, Nathan Jones, 21, put the body in a car trunk and dump the half-naked corpse in a ditch with a rug thrown over it and the defendant’s T-shirt placed over the head, the prosecutor said.
The body was found the following day after a mail carrier out on his route spotted what he thought was a body in a ditch and called authorities, police said.
Alec Jones and Nathan Jones were quickly arrested.
Initially, Alec Jones’ story to investigators changed. But he eventually “coldly describes what happened that evening,” prosecutor Bailey Taylor said.
Defense attorneys argued that Dennis Jones had high levels of methamphetamine and amphetamines in his system, that he had been violent, and had previously attacked Alec Jones with a hammer, the Freeman-Journal reported.
Dennis Jones’ obituary said he enjoyed listening to music, working on cars, being outdoors and was loved by his grandkids.
Nathan Jones’ trial is pending.
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