Defending Your Life

Speaker 1 If you ever worry about how safe your home really is, you need to hear about Simply Safe's early access Black Friday sale.

Speaker 1 Old school security systems typically only react after someone breaks in, but Simply Safe is different.

Speaker 1 Simply Safe's Active Guard Outdoor Protection uses AI-powered cameras that detect threats outside your home and alert real security agents.

Speaker 1 Those agents take action while the intruder is still outside, talking to them through the camera, triggering a siren or spotlight, and letting them know police are on the way.

Speaker 1 That's how you stop a crime before it starts. There are no long-term contracts or hidden fees, plus a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Simply Safe's been named best home security system by U.S.

Speaker 1 News and World Report five years running. Don't miss out on SimplySafe's biggest sale of the year, 60% off.

Speaker 1 Right now, our listeners can save 60% off a SimplySafe home security system at simply safe.com/slash 48 hours. That's simply safe.com/slash 48 hours.
There's no safe like Simply Safe.

Speaker 2 Spectrum Business has a new offer that could be a game changer for small and medium-sized businesses. Are you ready for this?

Speaker 2 You could get free internet for life when you sign up for four mobile lines.

Speaker 2 Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes connected seamlessly with fast, reliable business internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services.

Speaker 2 Manage reservations, process orders, entertain customers. Spectrum Business Solutions are designed with your business needs in mind.

Speaker 2 Power all aspects of your business with free internet forever from Spectrum Business. Visit spectrum.com/slash freeforlife to learn more.
Restrictions apply, services not available in all areas.

Speaker 5 Shooting has been a hobby for me for at least the past 33 years.

Speaker 5 It helps you think in a way that is tactical and practical as well.

Speaker 5 Personal security, of course, has always been a concern.

Speaker 5 Especially as a prosecutor.

Speaker 7 All rise.

Speaker 5 My name is Ron Dersh. I'm a deputy prosecuting attorney for Snohomish County.
I'm trying the Jerry Jones case now for the third time. The case has spanned approximately 17 years of my career.

Speaker 5 This is a shocking scene, I think, even to the veteran police officers who responded.

Speaker 8 I'm Joe Ward.

Speaker 9 I'm a homicide detective for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, and I was here 17 years ago to investigate the murder of Lee Jones. Mrs.
Jones had received a lot of injuries to her body.

Speaker 9 She had over 60 wounds, slashes, stabs.

Speaker 5 She's in the bathtub while she is being killed and she is vocal. She is yelling.
She is screaming. She is battling her assailant.

Speaker 9 It looked like she had fought for her life in that room and lost.

Speaker 9 Jerry Jones says he heard a noise and responded and found his wife stabbed. Then as he found her, someone brushed by him and pushed him against the wall and cut his hand.
Jerry's story is

Speaker 9 unbelievable.

Speaker 5 Detective Ward begins to realize that it just doesn't add up and that he has the murder suspect right in front of him.

Speaker 5 It was a great relief to get that first guilty verdict in this case.

Speaker 5 We have the Ninth Circuit deciding that it was a weak circumstantial case and that it should be retried.

Speaker 5 It's 2001, we did it the second time.

Speaker 5 The verdict that was extremely satisfying, one that I hoped meant the end of the case.

Speaker 5 The Court of Appeals of the state of Washington reverses us. Again, I'm quite angry and embittered by what the Court of Appeals has done

Speaker 5 as a prosecutor. There are certain cases that resound in your consciousness that affect you on some emotional level.
This was one of them.

Speaker 5 So I was not looking forward to

Speaker 5 visiting that

Speaker 5 place yet again.

Speaker 5 Came the dawn.

Speaker 12 Round three.

Speaker 13 Opening statement from the defense, Mr.

Speaker 15 Jones.

Speaker 16 Thank you, Your Honor.

Speaker 13 This trial had a strange twist as the murder defendant acted as his own attorney.

Speaker 17 I've decided to represent myself.

Speaker 5 He just keeps coming back.

Speaker 17 Nobody knows the case better than I do.

Speaker 5 It's almost as though he and I were meant to show up in the same courtroom and fight this thing out.

Speaker 5 Defending your life, tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

Speaker 19 I loved my mother very much.

Speaker 19 And if I had any doubt whatsoever that my dad might have done it, I wouldn't be standing by him like this.

Speaker 8 For almost 17 years, my sister and I can come down this evening. Kim Jones and her younger sister, Beth, our other interview starts at about six, have been on a mission.

Speaker 20 There's no way that he did this.

Speaker 8 Trying to prove their father, Jerry Jones Jr., no, this is wrong,

Speaker 8 is innocent of brutally killing their mother Lee.

Speaker 9 Has there ever been a moment where you've said,

Speaker 6 maybe dad did do this?

Speaker 22 No. No.

Speaker 21 You have to know my dad. No.

Speaker 19 My dad is a very peaceful man.

Speaker 21 He never even raised his voice at anyone in the family.

Speaker 24 Jerry, how you feeling?

Speaker 8 I'm feeling great. 48 hours began following this story in 1999 when Jerry Jones was released from prison for the first time.

Speaker 21 This is a dream come true.

Speaker 8 After an appeals court ruled, his lawyer was ineffective.

Speaker 25 My dad deserves freedom just like everybody else.

Speaker 8 His release marked the beginning of an incredible legal drama. In 2001, Jerry Jones was retried and reconvicted.

Speaker 8 And then remarkably, an appeals court reversed that conviction because the jury didn't hear crucial evidence. Now, Jones and his daughters are back for round three.

Speaker 8 And this time, Jones will be represented by the man he says knows this case better than anyone, himself.

Speaker 8 All rise.

Speaker 23 Court is again in session.

Speaker 8 Do you have any legal training at all?

Speaker 26 No, I don't.

Speaker 13 Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

Speaker 26 If they can get a feel for me as a human being, then they'll be convinced that I am not capable of murdering anyone.

Speaker 31 The evidence will tell you that I loved my wife.

Speaker 8 He'll be going toe-to-toe with the man who has prosecuted him twice before.

Speaker 12 Please listen carefully to the evidence in the case.

Speaker 8 Ron Dersh.

Speaker 5 We do our best to make sure that murderers don't get away with murder.

Speaker 32 The prosecutor will be unable to prove to you

Speaker 29 that I murdered Lee for one very simple reason.

Speaker 31 I did not do it.

Speaker 8 And to ensure a fair verdict, this jury won't hear about Jerry Jones's earlier trials or convictions.

Speaker 26 I'm not perfect, I've made mistakes, but I'm not a murderer.

Speaker 31 I'd give anything if I could have her back right now.

Speaker 8 It was Lee's beauty that first caught his attention back in 1970.

Speaker 17 I encountered the most gorgeous creature I'd ever laid eyes on in my life.

Speaker 8 When Jerry was stationed in Vietnam serving in the Air Force, she had these beautiful brown eyes and the most gorgeous smile you've ever seen and for me it was just love at first sight.

Speaker 8 They married in Vietnam and their first child Kim was born there.

Speaker 8 Within months Jerry's tour ended and Lee left her family behind and moved to the U.S. to start a new life.
Two more children are born.

Speaker 6 Beth and Thomas. Yes.

Speaker 8 Jerry retired after 20 years in the Air Force and the family moved to Buffalo, Washington, just outside Seattle.

Speaker 19 They were just in the prime of their marriage.

Speaker 33 Look at those lovebirds. Oh, they're sweet.

Speaker 22 They were always hugging each other.

Speaker 23 They were always kissing and just, they were very close and very happy.

Speaker 8 Jerry became a successful pharmaceutical salesman. Lee was a busy housewife, raising three children.

Speaker 21 Everything in our home was encouraging and positive.

Speaker 8 These are the last pictures of Lee taken at a Thanksgiving celebration.

Speaker 8 Nine days later, she would be stabbed 63 times in the family bathtub.

Speaker 16 When my wife needed me the most,

Speaker 4 I couldn't do it. I couldn't help her.

Speaker 8 On the night of December 3rd, 1988, Jerry and Lee were at home with four-year-old Thomas. According to Jerry, Lee had put their son to sleep,

Speaker 17 then went to the hallway bathroom to take a bath.

Speaker 8 Jazz music was playing from a radio in Jerry's study. He was across the hall in the master bedroom.
His shower was running in the adjoining bathroom.

Speaker 31 I heard this horrible scream.

Speaker 29 One loud, piercing scream. I'd never heard anything like that before in my entire life.

Speaker 8 Jerry says he raced towards the bathroom door.

Speaker 14 This is happening so quickly, so fast.

Speaker 29 You start perceiving that something is coming out.

Speaker 28 And as I'm moving closer to the doorway, you see more and more.

Speaker 30 And it's a knife.

Speaker 8 Jerry remembers colliding with an intruder and reaching for the knife.

Speaker 29 And in the process, I suffered some cuts.

Speaker 30 I'm knocked back. I hit my head against the wall.

Speaker 12 Boom.

Speaker 31 Fall to the floor.

Speaker 29 And I'm seeing these black and white flashing lights. And when I got up, there was nobody in the hallway any longer.

Speaker 30 They immediately went into the bathroom.

Speaker 29 And I encountered the most horrible situation I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 29 911, what are you? What are you hurrying?

Speaker 16 I find my wife in the tub and she is struggling.

Speaker 29 I said, my god, Lee, what happened?

Speaker 16 She was trying to speak.

Speaker 29 I'm convinced of that. I can recall this chattering sound of her teeth.

Speaker 36 Can you tell me where she's stabbed?

Speaker 4 All over.

Speaker 36 Okay, is there a knife in her anywhere? Do not remove the knife.

Speaker 28 Her eyes were wide open and she was looking right at me and I realized that she was losing her physical life very rapidly.

Speaker 32 Will you help me help her?

Speaker 36 I'll try. What can I do?

Speaker 8 Is she breathing?

Speaker 36 I don't think so.

Speaker 11 Ma'am, I think she's dead.

Speaker 8 Amid this blood and chaos, Thomas woke up.

Speaker 37 I went upstairs and I found my mother. She was in the bathtub and

Speaker 37 was bloody.

Speaker 4 No father on this earth would want his son.

Speaker 16 To see his mother in that condition.

Speaker 9 It was one of the most violent murders I've ever seen. She was viciously attacked, and she fought for her life.
These are all scene photographs taken the night of the investigation.

Speaker 8 Detective Joe Ward was the lead investigator.

Speaker 9 All I could see was that I had a wet and bloody man with a hand wrapped in a towel and a dead wife in the bathroom.

Speaker 30 I think they had already made up their mind. Lee is dead.

Speaker 29 Jerry is at home.

Speaker 13 Case is closed.

Speaker 9 We don't have any witnesses that saw anybody run from the house. We don't have any DNA.
There's really an absence of any evidence of an intruder.

Speaker 11 Jerry, did you murder your wife, Lee Jones?

Speaker 27 No, I didn't, Peter. They didn't do an investigation that night.

Speaker 28 And within two hours, I found myself under arrest for something I didn't do.

Speaker 19 Making an arrest that night without talking to anybody else other than my dad was a very big mistake.

Speaker 11 I'm the one who knows what happened on that December night better than anyone else.

Speaker 8 As daughters Kim and Beth listen to their father's opening statement, they know this third trial may be his last.

Speaker 17 There was no reason, no motive.

Speaker 8 And his best chance to prove it was an intruder who did it. Someone else murdered Lee Jones.

Speaker 29 You will hear that a disturbed teenage neighborhood boy committed this awful crime.

Speaker 5 I think he's desperate.

Speaker 5 Too sure the finger is pointed elsewhere.

Speaker 39 Hey, Ryan Reynolds here, wishing you a very happy half-off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.

Speaker 39 And Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

Speaker 40 So that means a half day.

Speaker 39 Yeah? Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

Speaker 40 Upfront payment of $45 for three months plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only.
Speed slow under 35 gigabytes of networks busy. Taxes and fees extra.

Speaker 41 See Mintmobile.com.

Speaker 42 Don't let the holidays derail your fitness.

Speaker 43 Stay on track with Hydro.

Speaker 42 20 minutes rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide. Running can't compete.
That's why 90% stick with hydro a year later.

Speaker 43 GQ named the Hydro Arc the best rower of 2025.

Speaker 42 And every hydro comes with free shipping, a 30-day trial, and warranty.

Speaker 43 Go to hydro.com code fit and save up to 600 bucks on your next hydro. Hydro.com code fit.

Speaker 5 I lived in the shadow of the L, the J-Train.

Speaker 5 It ran about 10 feet from my window.

Speaker 5 My mom and dad owned a delicatessen there for about 35 years.

Speaker 8 This Queens, New York neighborhood is a long way from Everett, Washington.

Speaker 8 But for prosecutor Ron Dirsch, there's a close connection.

Speaker 44 I think that Ron saw Lee Jones as someone similar to his mom.

Speaker 8 Mara Rosano is Ron's wife and also a prosecutor.

Speaker 44 His mom was someone very special in his life.

Speaker 5 My mother was an immigrant and she always spoke heavily accented English. She was about 5'4

Speaker 4 and

Speaker 5 her name was Elizabeth and everyone called her Leah.

Speaker 8 And he's determined to get justice for Lee Jones.

Speaker 5 Here's the old case file.

Speaker 8 Even after all these years.

Speaker 11 This is all Jerry Jones.

Speaker 5 These are all his.

Speaker 5 Well, there's no doubt I'm sick of the case.

Speaker 5 Not sick enough to let him go.

Speaker 8 As prosecutor Ron Dersh begins his case, he's feeling the pressure. He's won hundreds of trials, but now faces the possibility of professional humiliation.

Speaker 8 What if Jerry Jones, a self-taught lawyer wannabe who Dersh has convicted twice before, wins this case?

Speaker 5 That'd be a hard one to swallow. That'd be tough.

Speaker 6 Is Jerry a good attorney?

Speaker 5 I think he is.

Speaker 5 He's done a lot better than

Speaker 5 all and I have on occasion.

Speaker 11 Let's take it back to December 3rd of 1988.

Speaker 8 Dirsch believes his opposing counsel is, in fact, his best evidence.

Speaker 5 The strongest piece of evidence is Jerry Jones. He is still here.
He is still alive. Her autopsy will show that.

Speaker 8 He tells the jury about Lee's defensive wounds, the blood spatter in the bathroom, and the cuts on Jerry's right hand that Jerry says were caused by the intruder.

Speaker 26 They're consistent with a defensive move on my part to knock the knife out of his hand when I encountered him in the hallway.

Speaker 5 Showing you exhibit number 121.

Speaker 8 But a forensic expert testifies the cuts more likely occurred when Jerry's hand slid off the knife handle.

Speaker 24 Also, blood on the hand of the assailant can be transferred to the handle of the knife, making it slippery.

Speaker 8 As he allegedly stabbed Lee dozens of times. Reportedly, Jerry counters with his own expert.
It's a cut.

Speaker 9 That's all you can say.

Speaker 26 My fingerprints were not on the knife. My blood was not on the knife.
And my DNA is not on the knife.

Speaker 30 How

Speaker 11 on earth is it possible to stab someone 63 times and yet leave no physical evidence whatsoever?

Speaker 5 I think that he rinsed off the handle of that knife. I think he was fully aware that there would be some testing, fingerprint or otherwise.

Speaker 8 The jury also hears that Jerry let crucial minutes pass.

Speaker 10 Three, five minutes.

Speaker 4 911, what are you gonna hurry?

Speaker 8 Before calling 911.

Speaker 11 Jerry, Lee is in the tub bleeding to death, and you still haven't called 911.

Speaker 11 I don't get it.

Speaker 11 I don't get it either.

Speaker 8 But Ron believes he knows why. In the midst of everything, four-year-old Thomas comes upstairs.

Speaker 5 And not just once, but several times, as far as we're able to tell. And at this point, Jerry's hands are already full.
He's got a dying woman. He's got cuts on his hands.
And here comes his kid.

Speaker 8 Jerry takes Thomas back to his bedroom.

Speaker 6 If you didn't kill Lee,

Speaker 6 why in the world would you have taken your young son

Speaker 6 back downstairs and left him there

Speaker 6 when you don't know whether or not the killer is still in the house?

Speaker 26 Well, Peter, you're presuming, of course, that I'm thinking clearly, coherently, and logically at this point in time.

Speaker 5 There is no intruder in the home. And there never was.

Speaker 5 The killer is Jerry Jones. He knows Thomas is safe downstairs.

Speaker 8 Thomas comes upstairs again. This time, Jerry takes his son to Graham Smith, his next-door neighbor.

Speaker 46 As I open the door, Jerry was there on the porch.

Speaker 8 The judge has asked us to not show the faces of some witnesses.

Speaker 9 Jerry said that he was watching TV.

Speaker 9 He was hit over the head.

Speaker 15 And when he came to, he found Lee bleeding and stabbed.

Speaker 6 You tell your neighbor that you were struck on the head while watching TV. You tell the police that you collided with the intruder.

Speaker 11 Two separate stories.

Speaker 28 I didn't tell two different stories.

Speaker 11 My response to him was,

Speaker 26 I hit my head, and when I got up, I found Lee bleeding all over.

Speaker 8 It is only after he returns home that Jerry finally calls

Speaker 8 911.

Speaker 4 What's the address? 190, 160.

Speaker 8 But he gives them the wrong address.

Speaker 36 You're going to have to help me because we have a conflict with your address.

Speaker 8 Lead investigator Joe Ward believes Jerry's mistake was intentional.

Speaker 9 I think that's just another part of his plan to delay the response to the house just to make sure that his wife was dead.

Speaker 8 It took the police 10 minutes to find the house. And when they went inside, they discovered Jerry wet.
and bloody.

Speaker 8 A forensic scientist testifies to scenarios of how the crotch area of Jerry's genes became stained with Lee's blood.

Speaker 8 One potential would be if the rail of a bathtub in this crime scene had been saturated with blood and an individual sat on that rail.

Speaker 8 The other object that I know is long and narrow and bloody is the limbs, the arms and legs of Lee Jones.

Speaker 5 I think at some point he is sitting on her to hold her down.

Speaker 8 Sitting on her while he's stabbing her. Yes.

Speaker 8 Not true, says Jerry Jones.

Speaker 11 I loved her.

Speaker 12 I did not murder my wife. I could not do it.

Speaker 18 There was no reason for me to do it.

Speaker 8 In fact, Jerry says if he wanted Lee dead, he had his chance right here in their bedroom. It was during a rough period in their marriage.

Speaker 8 When the couple separated, Lee attempted suicide, overdosing on sleeping pills. Jerry found her and rushed her to the emergency room.

Speaker 19 Their separation was the best thing that ever happened to them. They really realized how much they appreciated each other.

Speaker 33 Look at those love birds. Oh, it's a sweet.

Speaker 8 The couple soon reconciled.

Speaker 21 In the last year

Speaker 21 before my mom died, they were very close.

Speaker 44 Marriage was perfect.

Speaker 23 Maybe for him.

Speaker 8 But Lee's friends, Barbara Sleeper and Mary McNaughton,

Speaker 8 say right before she was murdered, Lee was looking for a way out.

Speaker 48 Jerry and his daughters can say anything they want to. He can talk about how in love he was and that they, you know, were reunited and everything else, but I knew that she wanted to get divorced.

Speaker 8 Isn't it possible that Jerry Jones is innocent?

Speaker 23 I don't see how it's possible.

Speaker 8 But Jerry Jones insists he knows who really killed Lee.

Speaker 14 Resident, if you'd raise your right hand.

Speaker 8 And he's about to put him on trial.

Speaker 8 You think you'll see Busby today?

Speaker 2 Probably.

Speaker 8 You looking forward to that?

Speaker 30 Not looking forward to that, no.

Speaker 7 All rise.

Speaker 5 Mr. Calls Daniel Busby.

Speaker 8 We're not allowed to show his face.

Speaker 14 Did you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Speaker 8 I did. But for more than 16 years, Jerry Jones has insisted this man is his wife's real killer.

Speaker 11 Danny Busby did it, Peter.

Speaker 28 There's no doubt in my mind about that.

Speaker 5 Did you have a mouth on you back then?

Speaker 38 Yeah.

Speaker 9 You wise ass?

Speaker 38 Yeah.

Speaker 8 Prosecutor Ron Dirsch says there is no evidence that Danny Busby, then a 15-year-old teenager, was involved.

Speaker 5 On December 3rd of 1988, did you murder Lee Jones in her house in Baltimore?

Speaker 38 No.

Speaker 5 There is no connection, basically, between Danny Busby and the crime scene that night. All the DNA evidence tends to exclude Danny Busby.

Speaker 8 But Ron knows Danny's tough guy presence will vastly complicate his case.

Speaker 5 Chewing gun there? Yeah. You swallow that?

Speaker 37 No.

Speaker 5 He's kind of a loose cannon, and I'm concerned about that.

Speaker 8 At the time of Lee's murder, Danny was a friend of Beth Jones.

Speaker 34 I knew he had a crush on me.

Speaker 8 A neighborhood loudmouth.

Speaker 21 He was always the one that would initiate something troublesome.

Speaker 8 Who liked to tease Thomas.

Speaker 19 Growling at him like a lion or tiger and just scaring him.

Speaker 8 And antagonize Lee.

Speaker 27 He appeared to us to be just an obnoxious teenage boy.

Speaker 28 We know that he has grown and developed into a very disturbed, vicious, uncaring, brutal person.

Speaker 8 Now, for the first time in three trials, Jerry Jones is allowed to tell the jury about Danny Busby's troubled past, a history of violence that Jerry says began the night that Lee died.

Speaker 8 He'll directly confront Busby about his assaults against ex-girlfriends and threats to kill people. It's evidence that Jerry Jones hopes will convince the jury that Danny Busby is capable of murder.

Speaker 14 Mr. Jones, do you have any questions? Mr.
Busby?

Speaker 12 I do.

Speaker 26 I think we're going to be allowed to paint him as the monster that he is.

Speaker 32 Would you describe yourself as prone to violence?

Speaker 38 I have been in the past.

Speaker 32 Was it common for you to become so angry that you would lose control and black out?

Speaker 38 Slightly.

Speaker 6 What's it like for you to look into Danny Busby's eyes?

Speaker 29 I see a disturbed person, a violent person, a person almost without a soul.

Speaker 17 And would you describe yourself as having an uncontrollable temper?

Speaker 38 At times, yeah.

Speaker 8 Jerry says it was that uncontrollable temper that exploded after Lee banned Danny from visiting and calling Beth.

Speaker 35 You continued calling Beth, did you not?

Speaker 38 Probably.

Speaker 32 You continued to come to the house asking for Beth, didn't you?

Speaker 38 It's quite possible.

Speaker 8 Jerry claims that an enraged Danny was looking for Beth the night of the murder, but found Lee instead.

Speaker 18 And he viciously stabbed and slashed and attacked her over and over and over again that night.

Speaker 6 The problem with your allegation is that there's no physical evidence that Busby was at your home. There's no witness that places him there.

Speaker 16 I think there is.

Speaker 16 I think there is. I think

Speaker 29 Thomas was awakened by a growling sound.

Speaker 35 Do you recall ever growling at Thomas like a lion or a tiger to frighten him?

Speaker 5 I don't recall.

Speaker 32 Are you saying that never happened?

Speaker 5 No, saying I don't recall.

Speaker 17 Danny Busby growled at Thomas prior to going upstairs and murdering Lee, and he is the only person who ever growled at Thomas.

Speaker 8 Ron Dersh believes if there were any growling sounds that night, they came from Jerry himself.

Speaker 5 Is there growling going on? Is Jerry Jones grunting or growling while he's stabbing Lee? This is hard work. You take a look at those autopsy photos.
This is hard work. This is not easy stuff to do.

Speaker 8 Then there's Busby's long history of violence against his girlfriends.

Speaker 32 Did you begin physically abusing Crystal? Yeah.

Speaker 17 Did you punch Vondra on the shoulder numerous times?

Speaker 26 Yeah.

Speaker 17 Did you throw Joey to the ground?

Speaker 37 No, I pushed her.

Speaker 26 Your Honor, I have no further questions at this time.

Speaker 8 Things get even worse for the prosecution as those former girlfriends take the stand.

Speaker 14 He solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Speaker 8 We can't show their faces.

Speaker 23 He was both verbally and physically mean.

Speaker 21 He could be kind and fun one minute and then freak out.

Speaker 25 He would just kind of snap and change personalities. He'd be so furious.

Speaker 5 They're very sympathetic people. There's just no question that he has put them through hell.

Speaker 23 He gave me a black eye.

Speaker 21 He started kicking the crap out of me.

Speaker 25 Pretty much attacked me and spit in my face.

Speaker 8 But Ron Dersh says Jerry is using Danny Busby as a convenient scapegoat.

Speaker 5 Remember that when we look at what Danny Busby has done as an adult, he has not attempted to murder anyone. On any occasion did he, in your opinion, seriously try to kill you? No.

Speaker 5 He has not physically stabbed or assaulted anyone in the way that we have in this case. Danny never threatened you with a knife or any kind of weapon, did he? No.

Speaker 5 And the challenge is going to be to draw that line between Danny Busby as a 15-year-old and Danny Busby as an adult.

Speaker 32 Did he once tell your mother that she was dead?

Speaker 25 Yes.

Speaker 32 And has he also threatened to rape your mother?

Speaker 22 Yes.

Speaker 5 If the jurors decide that Danny Busby is volatile enough to have done this, then the case is lost.

Speaker 7 All right.

Speaker 14 Defense calls the next witness.

Speaker 50 Want to give a gift that actually matters this season? Start with skincare that's clean, effective, and actually works. Primarily Pure makes gifting simple.

Speaker 50 From cult favorite staples to limited edition holiday scents, all toxin-free, intentionally crafted, and ready to wrap. Perfect for gifting or treating yourself.

Speaker 50 Skip the synthetic fragrances and holiday gimmicks. Cozy vanilla mint body care.
Cranberry Red Lip Balm. Primely Pure captures all the festive nostalgia naturally.

Speaker 50 Thousands of glowing reviews prove it. This is clean beauty that works inside and out.
Skin, body, wellness. Their products help you create rituals that last well beyond the holidays.

Speaker 50 Tis the season for tradition and intention. Shop Primely Pure's best-selling essentials and new limited edition bundles to wrap up wellness for everyone on your list, including yourself.

Speaker 51 Hey there, we're Corinne Bianne and Sabrina Deanna Roga here to introduce our newest podcast, Crimes of A Crime House Original.

Speaker 47 Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season, from Crimes of the Paranormal, Unsolved Murders, and more.

Speaker 47 Our first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true crime stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains.

Speaker 51 Listen to and and follow Crimes of, available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 42 Don't let the holidays derail your fitness.

Speaker 43 Stay on track with hydro.

Speaker 42 20 minutes rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide. Running can't compete.
That's why 90% stick with hydro a year later.

Speaker 43 GQ named the hydro arc the best rower of 2025.

Speaker 42 And every hydro comes with free shipping, a 30-day trial, and warranty.

Speaker 43 Go to hydro.com code fit and save up to $600 on your next hydro. Hydro.com code fit.

Speaker 14 Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Speaker 20 Yes, I do.

Speaker 26 All of them wanted to be there.

Speaker 13 I do.

Speaker 26 All of them wanted to testify.

Speaker 26 All of them wanted to tell their stories.

Speaker 8 And all of them want to help free their father. To do that, Jerry is counting on their their testimony to put then 15-year-old Danny Busby at the crime scene in December 1988.

Speaker 17 Were you ever present when Danny Busby would growl at Thomas like a lion or a tiger?

Speaker 22 Yes,

Speaker 21 he did that very frequently.

Speaker 31 Did he ever growl at you?

Speaker 11 I think so, yes.

Speaker 8 What, asked Jones, did Thomas hear on the night his mother was murdered 16 years ago when he was just four years old?

Speaker 24 I remember it being more animal-like than that.

Speaker 20 He said he woke up when he heard growling noises and that a lion or a tiger got mom.

Speaker 19 He was repeating a lion or tiger had gotten mom.

Speaker 5 While I'm watching them testify, I'm thinking, you know, this is amazing. These people are flawless.
They are polished. They are rehearsed.
You think to yourself, damn it, why is up?

Speaker 8 While Beth, Beth, Kim, and Thomas lovingly stand by their father, Jerry Jones knows that it is his testimony and not his children's that jurors really want to hear.

Speaker 8 So as his own attorney, he decides to take the stand and come face to face with Ron Dirsch, a confrontation 16 years in the making.

Speaker 5 Once I knew that the case was coming back, it was clear to me that there would be some sort of face-off.

Speaker 27 I don't look at it as a match between Ron Dirsch and myself.

Speaker 17 The defense would call Jerry Jones, Your Honor.

Speaker 27 I look at it as an opportunity to present the evidence to a jury of 12 people.

Speaker 14 I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth.

Speaker 26 And prove my innocence.

Speaker 8 But before Ron faces Jerry...

Speaker 15 Jerry, did you kill your wife?

Speaker 27 I did not kill my wife.

Speaker 8 A public defender assigned by the court to advise him asked Jones to explain his bizarre behavior after he discovered Lee had been stabbed.

Speaker 24 Did you at any point that evening

Speaker 24 go and get wet?

Speaker 23 Yes. How did you do that?

Speaker 49 I ran into the master bedroom and

Speaker 32 heard the water running in the shower.

Speaker 14 I went to turn it off and I felt a sting on my hand.

Speaker 49 And I looked and saw that it was bleeding and I just ran back out.

Speaker 8 That's not the story Jerry told at his first trial. Mr.

Speaker 5 Jerry, cross-examination. Yes, sir.
Thank you.

Speaker 8 Ron believes he's caught Jerry in a lie. He whips out the transcripts and reads Jerry's own words back to him.

Speaker 5 I opened the shower door, and instead of reaching in and turning the shower off, I step inside.

Speaker 5 Clothes and all, I let the water run from the top of my head down the front of my body. You recall testifying to that effect in 1989.

Speaker 16 If that's what it says, that's obviously what I testified to.

Speaker 5 I have no further questions.

Speaker 8 After just a handful of questions, Dirsch retreats.

Speaker 18 I was amazed at how few questions Ron Dirsch asked me.

Speaker 12 I believe he was fairly convinced that he had lost the trial.

Speaker 11 I expected you to take off the gloves.

Speaker 6 This was going to be a bare knuckle confrontation with Jerry, and it seems like you played a little patty cake.

Speaker 11 Was that a strategy?

Speaker 5 Were you...

Speaker 11 Did you choke?

Speaker 5 I couldn't get mad at him at that point.

Speaker 5 Just because I have a stick to hit him with doesn't mean I'm going to hit him with it.

Speaker 8 But Ron uses that stick in his closing statement.

Speaker 5 Exhibit one

Speaker 9 for the state.

Speaker 8 is Jerry Jones because he is still here.

Speaker 8 He is still alive.

Speaker 8 Danny Busby is as subtle as a brick through a plate glass window. Do you think having listened to Danny Busby on the stand, having seen his behavior here, he could keep his mouth shut?

Speaker 5 Danny Busby is offered up as the boogeyman.

Speaker 5 And he was not.

Speaker 5 He did not kill Lee Jones.

Speaker 5 We know who did.

Speaker 5 And it's Jerry Jones.

Speaker 8 For Jerry and his family, their long battle to win his freedom comes down to one final argument.

Speaker 17 The prosecutor has failed to prove that I murdered my wife Lee Jones for one reason.

Speaker 26 I did not do it.

Speaker 28 As you know,

Speaker 32 I'm on trial here.

Speaker 29 You're going to go into that room soon.

Speaker 30 and deliberate and you're going to vote either guilty or not guilty.

Speaker 28 Jerry Jones' name is on that ballot.

Speaker 28 Danny Busby's name is not there.

Speaker 4 It's outrageous.

Speaker 4 Just doesn't add up.

Speaker 30 I had no motive.

Speaker 9 I was not a violent person.

Speaker 28 I was not an explosive person. I'm the person you see standing before you today.

Speaker 5 I think what the jury got to see was

Speaker 5 Jerry Jones acting in closing.

Speaker 8 The crime.

Speaker 5 Yeah.

Speaker 45 Rehearsed?

Speaker 5 Absolutely.

Speaker 11 Yeah. Genuine? No.

Speaker 8 For the third time, Jerry Jones' fate is in the hands of a jury.

Speaker 8 In a scant four and a half hours, the jury reaches a verdict.

Speaker 52 Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. It's about getting the right person with the right background who can move your business forward.

Speaker 52 And to find candidates who match what you're looking for, trust Indeed-sponsored jobs. Stop struggling to get your job post even seen on other sites.

Speaker 52 Give your job the best chance to be seen with Indeed-sponsored jobs. They help you stand out and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need.

Speaker 52 Sponsored jobs boost your post for quality candidates so you can reach the exact people you want faster. Join the 1.6 million companies that sponsor their jobs with Indeed.

Speaker 52 Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results now with Indeed sponsored jobs.

Speaker 52 And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash listen.

Speaker 52 Just go to Indeed.com slash listen right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash listen.
Terms and conditions apply.

Speaker 52 Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed.

Speaker 41 This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game?

Speaker 41 Well, with the name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at progressive.com.

Speaker 41 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law.
Not available in all states.

Speaker 7 All rise.

Speaker 44 Court is a candidate session.

Speaker 8 After a grueling three-week trial, our parties are here. We have a verdict.

Speaker 14 Please bring in the jury.

Speaker 8 Jurors reach a verdict in just four and a half hours.

Speaker 5 And I'm thinking if they came back too soon, they're going to walk it.

Speaker 14 Mr. Jones, if you please stand for the reading of the verdict.

Speaker 26 Oh, I'm expecting a not guilty verdict.

Speaker 23 We all take it very seriously.

Speaker 11 Just the weight of it, it was almost overcoming.

Speaker 8 Jurors remember a tense courtroom as they filed in with their verdict.

Speaker 24 I looked at Jerry Jones and I looked at Ron Dersh. I think both of those guys have had a very personal role in this thing for the last 16 years.

Speaker 14 We, the jury, find the defendant, Jerry Bartlett Jones Jr., guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree as charged.

Speaker 6 When you hear the word for the third time,

Speaker 6 guilty, what was that moment like for you?

Speaker 28 You just shake your head in disbelief and

Speaker 26 what on earth are they thinking?

Speaker 5 When I hear the word guilty, I'm thinking, this is over for now.

Speaker 8 This is over. For prosecutor Ron Dersch, winning a third conviction is a tremendous relief.

Speaker 11 Was justice served here today, Ron?

Speaker 5 Absolutely.

Speaker 11 It was served in 2000.

Speaker 5 It was served in 1989.

Speaker 5 It's the right verdict.

Speaker 7 All right.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 6 36 jurors from three trials have now heard the evidence in this case, and not one believes that you are innocent. Yeah.

Speaker 26 That's very disappointing.

Speaker 28 I don't have an explanation for it.

Speaker 20 Do you think you should have done anything differently?

Speaker 12 I think I did everything humanly possible. I can't imagine anything more I could have done.
Tell me what the evidence is is that convinces you that I murdered my wife.

Speaker 24 We went through everything and it just didn't fit.

Speaker 24 A lot of us looked through every single piece of evidence, including the clothes, the knife, every single picture, making sure there wasn't something that we were missing.

Speaker 37 That's why we took four and a half hours or else we could have came out of that jury room in 45 minutes.

Speaker 8 Jurors didn't buy Jerry's version of events.

Speaker 23 He had a lot of inconsistencies with his stories.

Speaker 8 Or his explanation for the cuts on his hand.

Speaker 24 It looked like there was at least two contacts with the knife that we could tell, which didn't match up with him telling us that he had a run-in with an assailant and knocked that knife out of his hand.

Speaker 8 They also didn't believe Jerry's story of only hearing a single scream as his wife was being stabbed 63 times in the next room.

Speaker 23 I've lived in a split-level house myself. I could be downstairs and hear stuff going on upstairs in the bathroom.

Speaker 23 I think there was a terrible struggle, And I think you would have heard that all over that house.

Speaker 36 Can you tell me where she stayed?

Speaker 4 All over.

Speaker 8 And after listening to the 911 tape several times.

Speaker 20 On the whole 911 tape, he never cried.

Speaker 23 No, no. I thought that was odd.

Speaker 20 And then he would put down the phone and run and go do this.

Speaker 48 Sir, sir.

Speaker 20 And put down the phone and run and go do that.

Speaker 20 When you're on the phone with 911, you stay on the phone.

Speaker 14 You solemnly swear to tell the truth.

Speaker 8 And what about Danny Busby, the person Jerry Jones claims is the real killer?

Speaker 24 There was no evidence that Danny Busby was in that house that night. There was no DNA evidence.
There was no blood evidence.

Speaker 24 There was nothing to put Danny Busby in that house except Jerry Jones wanting him to be in that house, and he wasn't.

Speaker 8 Jurors found Danny Busby unlikable.

Speaker 9 Busby is a really nasty human being, but believable.

Speaker 24 He was being very honest about the fact he'd hit the woman. He had pushed their head into the steering wheel.
He had admitted to everything.

Speaker 24 But when it came down to did you kill Lee Jones, no, I did not kill Lee Jones.

Speaker 8 It was Jerry Jones they didn't believe.

Speaker 24 Every move, every emotion he made seemed planned out.

Speaker 20 I'm sure he's loving with his children and his grandchildren, but I think his wife was a whole nother matter.

Speaker 21 He looks nice on the outside and he speaks with a soft tone, but he gives me the creeps.

Speaker 5 He could not hide himself from the jury.

Speaker 15 I did not murder.

Speaker 16 I was.

Speaker 5 They saw through to him to his essential core.

Speaker 7 I'll rise.

Speaker 8 Five days after being convicted, State v.

Speaker 5 Jerry Bartlett Jones.

Speaker 8 Jerry Jones is back in court for sentencing.

Speaker 5 He is present, he is in custody.

Speaker 8 And for the third time,

Speaker 23 we stand up for him because we believe in his innocence.

Speaker 34 Absolutely.

Speaker 8 His daughters ask for compassion.

Speaker 34 Everyone talks about how much we love our dad, but they seem to forget how much we loved our mother.

Speaker 22 You can send him to prison, but prison isn't going to make us suffer any more than we already have in these last 16 years.

Speaker 8 But for Pam O'Keefe, Danny Busby's mother, Jerry Jones doesn't deserve any sympathy.

Speaker 54 The evil started the night Jerry Jones murdered his wife and the next day when he accused my son of doing it.

Speaker 8 No one knows how years of being vilified affected Danny Busby's life.

Speaker 8 But his mother believes Jerry Jones needs to be punished for all the lives he's damaged.

Speaker 54 I hope a day doesn't go by for the rest of your life that you don't think of your west.

Speaker 54 How you took her life away from your children and then you accused a 15-year-old innocent boy. You have ruined so many lives.

Speaker 8 When it's Jerry's turn, he seems remorseful.

Speaker 15 I wish Danny Busby's name had not come to mind.

Speaker 15 I have no reason to bring his name into these proceedings.

Speaker 5 Stop

Speaker 5 damaging Danny Busby.

Speaker 8 Jerry is chastised one last time. And let him heal and grow the best he can.
Before Judge James Allendorfer sentences him.

Speaker 14 I'm going to sentence you for the third time in your life to 25 years in the penitentiary.

Speaker 32 Anything in your pockets at all?

Speaker 8 But just a few months later, back in prison, Jerry Jones is defiant once again.

Speaker 6 Do you owe Danny Busby an apology?

Speaker 8 No.

Speaker 27 I do not owe Danny Busby an apology, and none will be forthcoming.

Speaker 5 I think it's entirely likely that at this point he's managed to convince himself that he did not commit this murder.

Speaker 8 For Ron Dersh, the battle against Jerry Jones is finally over. He's moving on, but not to another case.

Speaker 5 I, Ronald Dersh, swear that I will support, defend, and obey.

Speaker 8 Instead of prosecuting, he'll be enforcing the law.

Speaker 24 You sure you want to do this? Yes, sir.

Speaker 4 Welcome to the board.

Speaker 8 As a deputy sheriff.

Speaker 8 But the case that has consumed his life for so many years will be much more difficult to leave behind.

Speaker 5 I don't know that anything we can do in a courtroom can really put the dead to rest.

Speaker 5 Clearly the family has been damaged, I think, beyond repair by what Jerry Jones did.

Speaker 5 So in terms of whether Lee Jones can rest, well, I hope she can rest.

Speaker 5 The rest of us I don't think can.

Speaker 46 In 2005, Jerry Jones began a three-year sentence, bringing his total prison time to 16 years. Jerry Jones was released from prison in 2008.

Speaker 53 This is the story of the one. As head of maintenance at a concert hall, he knows the show must always go on.

Speaker 53 That's why he works behind the scenes, ensuring every light is working, the HVAC is humming, and his facility shines.

Speaker 53 With Granger's supplies and solutions for every challenge he faces, plus 24-7 customer support, his venue never misses a beat. Call quickgranger.com or just stop by.

Speaker 53 Granger, for the ones who get it done.