Episode 23 - Rushed Execution Series Part V - Jack Jones Part 1 - Strictly Homicide Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
One piece of smart technology could helpsolve a murder mystery in Arkansas. Two
Pine Bluff teens are in jail tonightfacing murder charges. Police say they are
in custody in connection to the shootingdepth of two seventeen year olds. It's
a bizarre story in Russell Bill,Arkansas today, a man who reportedly quit
his job over a low pay wenton a shooting spree with two handguns.

(00:31):
Tributes are pouring in for Anne Presley, the Little Rock TV anchorwoman died over
the weekend. A suspect in thedeadly Fable shooting on New Year's Day in
court this morning. A Little Rockmother is pleading for help. Tonight,
she is asking anyone thanks for listeningthis Strictly Homicide and Arkansas True Crime podcasts

(01:07):
covering lesser known cases out of thenatural State. I'd like to start off
by thanking my Patreon supporters. Ifyou'd like to help support us, you
can find us on Patreon and helpwith as little as a dollar a month.
There's also a donate button for aone time donation on Strictly Homicide dot

(01:29):
com. Please stay tuned until theend of the show to hear a few
promos from some of my favorite shows. Are you a fan of Strictly Homicide

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podcasts? Well, of course youare. What would you say if I
told you that you can earn pointsthat allow you to purchase gift cards just
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Aaron approved, so will I.I downloaded the app and tested it for
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You know how much I love Starbucksand how much I need it to live.
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It's free to download, and youautomatically earn three hundred points if you
use the inbyte code. Homicide warning. Strictly homicide covers cases that include sexual

(03:53):
assault, violence, and homicide.Episodes may contain explicit in language and are
not suitable for young ears. Listenerdiscretion is advised. Hey, y'all,

(04:42):
welcome back, and thanks for stickingwith me. I know the episodes are
a little spread out right now,but soon they'll get back on track to
bi weekly. I appreciate everyone's patiencefor this episode. I kind of have
a guest with me while I'm recording. He won't hear him though, because
he doesn't hawk, but the famousgroup The Beardy is recording with me.

(05:08):
Episode twenty three takes us to aWhite County town of about four point six
square miles and a population just overtwenty eight hundred. The tiny town's name
is bald Knob, Arkansas, wherethe Ozarks meet the Delta. Native Americans
use this area for camping during theirhunting trips down the White River Valley.

(05:31):
It is said that Hernando de Sotodiscovered the town while exploring the Mississippi River
in fifteen forty one. The prominenttreeless ridge of layered rock served as a
landmark to the pioneers. The hugerock was nearly an acre in size and
was visible from a very far distance. Just south of Bald Knob lies the

(05:54):
Liberty Valley, a site of prehistoricsalt extraction. During the Civil War,
two bushels of salt was extracted ina single day. Salt making was an
enterprise carried out in Arkansas for oversix hundred years. The Native Americans began
making salt around fourteen hundred to addflavor to their food. Salt was an

(06:15):
important nutrient for those living in hotclimates. It was also used for rituals.
How did they make the salt well? Ground Water passes through the underground
sediments formed by ancient seas, whichbrings salt to the surface in a liquid
form brine. When the brine evaporates, salts are recrystallized. European explorers and

(06:40):
American settlers would use and sell ituntil a better quality and cheaper salt became
available. Arkansas salt makers would boilthe water in large kettles overwood fires until
eighteen sixty four, when the Uniontroops broke most of the kettles. A
few that were not broken still remainin a private possession. When the railroad

(07:01):
arrived in eighteen seventy two, officialswere interested in extracting the rock in the
area. They began work in eighteenseventy seven, and by eighteen eighty fifty
six of the two hundred and twentyone townspeople were working there. Most of
the workers were from Ireland. Ineighteen seventy three, the founding father,

(07:24):
Benjamin Franklin Brown, posted a signbeside the railroad naming the town bald Knob.
The rock extraction continued and furnished ballastsfor j Goals Baldknob Memphis Railroad.
This was built between eighteen eighty sixand eighteen eighty eight, and in eighteen

(07:45):
seventy eight a post office was appliedfor, and the first mayor was elected
in eighteen eighty one. By eighteeneighty the rock extracting wound down, since
the sandy up soil was ideal forgrowing strawberries. That's what they began to
do, and in nineteen ten theyorganized a Strawberry Association. In nineteen twenty,

(08:07):
the rock extracting picked up again,furnishing rocks for buildings at Southwestern College
now known as Roads College in Memphis, Tennessee. In nineteen twenty one,
Benjamin Brown June Collision, an earnestwind started the Strawberry Company and built the

(08:28):
longest strawberry shed in the world Atthat time. The shed was three quarters
of a mile and stood parallel tothe Missouri Railroad tracks which is now Union
Pacific. For years, car loadsof strawberries were shipped from the Waller family
Strawberry market growers sold three point fivemillion dollars worth of strawberries in nineteen fifty

(08:50):
one, naming bald Knob, thistiny little town with the weirdest name,
the strawberry capital of the world.Today, they still hold an annual home
Fest festival in early May, includingseveral strawberry themed events. Today, a
hobby shop and museum displays the historyof Bald Knob and the Missouri Pacific Railroad,

(09:16):
where you can also see antique passengercars and an antique caboose. The
estimated median household income in Baldknob istwenty eight thousand, four hundred and seventy
two, with the median home prizebeing seventy nine thousand, four hundred and
seventy five. The town's population isninety percent white and thirty one percent of

(09:39):
the population is below poverty level.Our case took place in nineteen ninety five,

(10:13):
when the world's population was five pointsix billion and a gallon of gas
cost a dollar and nine cents.During this year, the forty nine Ers
won the Super Bowl, Nebraska wasthe NCAA football champs, and the Arkansas
Razorbacks wo Pig Sue made it tothe ncuble A Championship during March Madness.

(10:35):
I'm sure most Hog fans remember thisbecause mister T still talks about the upset
when UCLA beat the Razorbacks, UCLAnearly lost during the second round against Missouri.
This was the same year that MichaelJordan returned to the NBA after a

(10:56):
year long retirement to play minor leaguebaseball in nineteen ninety five. Tragedy struck
Oklahoma City on April nineteenth, whenTimothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building. A
few months later, the New YorkTimes and Washington Posts published the Unibomber's Manifesto,

(11:16):
and two weeks later O. J. Simpson was acquitted on two councer
murder. The world also lost anamazing man. This was the year that
Bob Ross lost his fight with cancer. Hello on Bob Ross, and I'd

(11:37):
like to welcome you to the twentyninth Joy of Painting series. If this
is your first time with us,allow me to extend a personal invitation for
you to get your brushes and andyour paints and paint along with us each
show. And if you've been withus before, please allow me to thank
you for inviting us back for anotherseries of painting shows. In April,

(12:13):
a small community in Arkansas would becompletely devastated. Jack Henry Jones, Junior
would make a choice to take someone'slife, landing him on Arkansas's death row
and becoming inmate number five to bescheduled for execution during Arkansas's twenty and seventeen
rushed execution. This case was areally hard case for me. Jack Jones

(12:41):
really was a fucking monster. Heabsolutely deserved his punishment Without any doubt.
While the murderer needed to be executed, I still feel that the way that
they rushed the eight executions wasn't right. There's a reason that they have a
process once someone is sentenced to death. There are times when people are wrongfully

(13:01):
convicted and sit on death row foreighteen years and seventy eight days. This
is why they have an appeals process. I hate the fact that the victim's
family has to live through the oftenvery long, tedious execution process, and
I cannot even begin to imagine whatit's like to lose someone you love to
a horrible crime. I totally getwanting to punish the person who took their

(13:26):
life, but we have to rememberthat there are laws and processes in place
for a reason. But a monsterlike Jack Jones will make it very hard
for you to remember that Arkansas GovernorAsa Hutchinson scheduled eight inmates to be executed

(13:56):
during an eleven day period in Apriltwo thousands seventeen. This is part five
of the eight part series Rushed Execution. If this is your first episode,
I would go back and start withepisode nineteen. The governor scheduled two inmates
a day for four days so theycan use the lethal injection drug that they

(14:20):
stockpiled that we're about to expire.Although Arkansas has executed more than one inmate
in a day, they have neverrushed executions like they did in April twenty
seventeen. In nineteen ninety seven,Arkansas executed three inmates in one day.
Nineteen ninety nine was the last yearthat multiple inmates were executed in one day

(14:41):
until two thousand and seventeen. Fromtwo thousand and five to two thousand and
seventeen, Arkansas's executions came to ahalt due to a shortage of the drugs
and controversy, leading to court casesand lawsuits. Manufacturers no longer wanted their
drugs to be used to kill people, which made it nearly impossible for states

(15:05):
to obtain effective and reliable FDA approveddrugs. In twenty eleven, Hospice,
Inc. The sole US manufacturer,moved their production facility to Italy, where
officials demanded assurance that their drug wouldno longer be used to kill people.
The company requested that prison officials inmultiple states discontinue the use of their drug.

(15:31):
The shortage of the drugs caused thestates to use whatever anesthetic and sedatives
that they could get their hands on. They scrambled. Some states stockpiled their
supply, others had to explore otheroptions. Using alternative drugs meant that they
would need to be approved, oftencreating a lengthy process. Ohio was the

(15:54):
first state to use a single doseof pental barbitual and many states follow Some
states use suppliers In England until theBritish government banned the drug from being shipped.
Georgia found a way around getting thedrug until the Enforcement Administration seized it.

(16:15):
My Dazzle LAMB was being used normallyused for anesthesia, procedural sedation,
trouble sleeping, and severe agitation.The drug causes a loss of ability to
create new memories while increasing sleepiness andreducing anxieties. When it is injected into
a muscle, it takes about fifteenminutes to begin working, but the effect

(16:38):
can last anywhere from one to sixhours, but you never know. The
drug is commonly used combined with anopiate before the induction of general anesthesia enforceedation
when someone is ventilated in an intensivecare unit. There has been so much

(16:59):
controversy see over the use of thisdrug due to numerous botched executions, Lawyers
argue that it might not protect theinmate from pain and suffering, which is
against the Eighth Amendment. From eighteenninety to twenty ten, it's estimated that
three percent of all executions were botched, with the highest percentage coming from lethal

(17:22):
injection. In twenty fourteen, anexecution in Ohio lasted twenty four minutes,
with the inmate gasping for air appearingto be choking. Three minutes after the
my Dazzy LAMB was injected into theinmate, he lifted his head and said
to the family, I love you, I love you, and then lied

(17:42):
back down. A minute later,his stomach swelled up in an unusual way.
The inmate struggled and gasped for air, clinching his fist the entire time.
About ten minutes later, the doctorslistened for a heartbeat, and four
minutes after that he was pronounced dead. During the same year, an execution

(18:03):
lasted over an hour, with theinmate gasping and snorting. They used the
same two drug cocktail as the onein Ohio. Also in twenty fourteen,
they struggled to find a vein inan inmate attempting and failing twice through his
left arm, once in his brachialvein, three times in his jugular vein,

(18:23):
twice in his left foot, andthen finally succeeded in a vein in
his groin. Ten minutes after theyadministered the my Dazzy lamb, he was
ready for the next two drugs,but as soon as they administered them,
he immediately struggled violently and raised hishead. Then he spoke and said,
oh man, I'm not something's wrong. He attempted to rise again before exhaling

(18:48):
loudly. A doctor stopped the executionwhen it became clear that he had vein
failure. He was pronounced dead dueto a heart attack almost an hour later.
In June two thousand and fifteen,the US Supreme Court ruled that attorneys
for three Oklahoma inmates failed to provethat my Dazzle Lamb was cruel and unusual

(19:11):
when compared to alternatives. In Octobertwenty sixteen, Ohio announced that they would
switch to the three drug cocktail afterthe two thousand and fourteen botched execution led
to questions about the dosage, drugchoice, and timing. After a botched
execution in December of two thousand andsixteen, Arizona stopped using my dazz lamb.

(19:34):
In April two seventeen, Arkansas's stockpileof the drug was expiring, so
the state decided in February to rusheight executions in four days. I'm not
saying that the Arkansas eight did notdeserve their punishment. I'm saying that the
decision to rush to execute the eightindividuals in such a compressed time frame resulted

(19:57):
in an unprecedented amount of litigation.Over the course of about three weeks,
suits were filed on behalf of thedrug companies and inmate. The men scheduled
to be executed first were Bruce Wardand Don Davis, which I covered in
Part one and Part two of theseries, so if this is your first

(20:18):
time listening, you might want togo back and listen to the first four
parts. Both of those men weregranted a stay of execution. The next
inmates scheduled on April twentieth, twentyseventeen, was Ladelli and Stacy Johnson.
Laddel Lee was the first inmate inover eleven years and the first of the
eight men to be executed. StacyJohnson was also granted a stay of execution.

(20:45):
On April twenty fourth, the firstdouble execution in seventeen years occurred.
The first man executed was Jack HenryJones Junior, the topic of this episode.

(21:10):
Mary Phillips moved to the Baldknob areafrom down south in Hope, Arkansas,
with her husband, James, andtheir three children, Darla, Jesse,
and Lacy. James and Mary werehigh school sweethearts and both adored each
other. Mary was a bookkeeper andworked for a tax and accounting service in

(21:33):
Baldknob. Mary was an awesome motherand always put her family first. The
family would often garden together or findother outdoor activities to do. She is
often described as an all around greatperson. No one ever had anything bad
to say about Mary. She wasvery much loved in her church, her

(21:56):
family, and her community. Theirchildren felt like they were the luckiest kids
ever to have the parents that theyhad. Their son describes her as the
greatest woman that he has ever met. It was and still is completely obvious
that James, Darla, Jesse,and Lacy knew Mary was one of a

(22:17):
kind. On June sixth, nineteenninety five, a monster would change the
lives of The Phillips Forever. Junesixth in nineteen ninety five was a typical
hot summer day for Arkansas. MaryPhillips was at her place of employment when

(22:41):
a man Mary never seen before camein and asked to borrow some books.
She got the books and gave themto the man and he left. Mary's
youngest, eleven year old daughter,Lacy, had a dentist's appointment that day,
and her older sister, who wasseventeen, Darla, had a birthday
party to attend, so she toldher mom that she would drop Lacy off
at her work before heading to theparty. James, Mary's husband was away

(23:06):
on a business trip five hundred milesaway. Darla walked her sister into her
mother's work, kissed her mom,and told her that she loved her.
Lacey's dennis appointment was at three,so she began closing up for the day
since she was the only employee thereat the time. Before they can close
down completely and leave, a manwalked into the office. Mary noticed the

(23:30):
man, but Lacey did not.It was the same man who came in
earlier to borrow books. The mantold Mary that she gave him the wrong
books. Mary apologized, asked himto return tomorrow and she'll make sure that
he gets the correct one. Shelet him know that they were rushing out
to get Lacy to her appointment.The man looked at the two of them

(23:52):
and said, I'm sorry. Marysaid it was fine and she'll fix it
tomorrow if he would just come back. The man told her no, I'm
sorry, but I'm going to haveto rob you. Next, he ordered
Mary to lie down on her stomach, followed by ordering Lacy to lie down
on top of her mother with herstomach facing down. Both Mary and Lacy

(24:15):
did exactly as the man ordered.Then he walked over to the cash register
and emptied it. Next, hedemanded that they both go to the back
and took them into a small breakroom. There was a small room connected to
the breakroom, where the man satLacy on a chair and tied her up.
Lacy was scared. She was onlyeleven years old, she was just

(24:38):
a small child. She was visiblyupset and began crying. She begged him,
please don't hurt my mamma. Theman looked at Lacy and said,
I'm not I'm going to hurt you. This was the last thing that Lacy
remembers before he began choking her untilshe passed out. The man didn't stop

(25:00):
there. He struck her multiple timesin the head with a barrel of a
baby gun. He left her inthe small room to die and went back
in with Mary, where he tiedher up with her hands behind her back.
He then brutally raped her. Afterraping her, he strangled her,
and before he left, he grabbedthe cord of a nearby coffee pot,

(25:22):
wrapped it around her neck, andthen left. I want to pause right
here to hear a word from oneof our sponsors. I want to take
a moment to talk about Geeks Unitedpodcast hosted by Alan Bob. While usually
a nerd centric pop culture podcast,Geeks United with Alan Bob are both thrilled

(25:47):
and chilled to announce their newest series, The Frightening Fifty. In bite sized
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(26:08):
with Alan Bob on Spotify, ApplePodcasts, SoundCloud, and more. Check
out the episode notes for link andnow back to the case. Back at
the Phillips house, Darla and Jessewere waiting for their moments to start a
return. When they did not arrivearound six pm, Jesse called his father,

(26:30):
who was out of town, andtold him that Mom and Lacy haven't
returned home yet. Mister Phillips askedthem to go search nearby to see if
the car had broken down. Jessedid just as his father asked and called
him back to let him know thathe didn't see anything. Mister Phillips told
his son to stay indoors and waitfor them to arrive home. He said

(26:52):
they'll be home in a while.Time passed by. When no one heard
from or saw Mary Lacy, thepolice were called to the office in baldinom.
Three officers entered the office where theyfound Mary's body nude from the waist
down with the cord from the coffeemaker around her neck. Her hands were
tied behind her back with wire.Her body had bruises all over her arms

(27:18):
and back, which indicated that sheput up a fight during the attack.
The autopsy report would later show thatshe was raped annally and died from blunt
force head injury and strangulation. Lacywas found in the small room nearby,
lifeless, tied to a chair withsevere lacerations and multiple skull fractures. One

(27:41):
of the officers began photographing the crimescene. While taking the first picture,
the flash went off, and that'swhen he saw Lacy open one eye and
look up at him. He'll neverforget that scene. All three of the
men who were first there said thatthey will never forget that night. The

(28:02):
officer says that he still has thatpicture. Lacy's hair was covered in blood
and matted, covering half of herface, with this big bright eye looking
up at him in fear. Lacywas questioned and when she described the man,
officers knew who it was. Shesaid that the man who did this

(28:25):
to her had a tear drop tattooon his face and tattoos on his arm.
Jack Jones, Junior was well knownby the Searcy police officers and he
fit that description. Investigators went toJack Jones' home and asked him if he
would come into the Sheriff's office andanswer some question. Jones agreed. At

(28:48):
the Sheriff's office, he was readhis miranda rights and signed a waiver of
rights form. During the questioning,Jack admitted to committing the crime, saying
he wanted to get revenge on thepolice because his wife was raped and they
did nothing about it. He thentold the investigators in detail how the crime
was committed. They say that ifLacy didn't survive, they may have never

(29:15):
caught Jones. Lacy was the keyto catching Jones. Five hundred miles away.
Around eleven pm, mister Phillips receiveda call at the hotel. He
was informed that something happened and heneeded to return home. He immediately packed
up his things, called his supervisor, and drove home. Jack Henry Jones,

(29:41):
Junior was sentenced to death for themurder of Mary Phillips, life for
the rape of Mary Phillips, inthirty years for the attempted murder of Lacy.
He would file appeal after appeal duringhis time on death row. This
case will continue next episode Episode twentyfour, Part two. Thank you so

(30:33):
much for downloading episode twenty three ofShirkley Homicide Podcast. I appreciate every download,
every listen, every review, andevery patren member. Upcoming episodes will
include part two of this episode andthe final three Inmates in the Rushed Execution

(30:53):
series and I have a big coldcase coming up. Please stick around for
two promos from a new true crimepodcast called True Crime Chronicles posted by Will
and Jessica, and a promo forASCA's Mystery Podcast, a show that is
written and hosted by five year oldthanks to the amazing Make a Wish Foundation,

(31:22):
Strictly Homicide is written, hosted,and produced by me Nikki T.
The original music is done by misterT. No not that one, my
mister T. If you are afan of the show, please make sure
you are subscribed on iTunes and pleaserate and review the show. You can
also find us on Patreon, whereyou can support the show for as little

(31:47):
as one dollar a month. Ifthere is a case that you would like
to discuss, or if you haveany comments, corrections, or suggestions,
send us an email at strictly Homicideat yahoo dot com or on social media.
You can find us on most socialmedia sites by searching strictly Homicide podcast

(32:09):
and on Twitter as at strictly hM I cide that's strictly homicide with no
O. You can also visit ourwebsite strictly homicide dot com. Stick around
to hear a few promos from someof the best podcasts around and until next
time, y'all stay safe, especiallyyou Arkansas. Every time I thought it

(32:43):
couldn't get any more bizarre, andI'm begging, begging and pleading for my
life. I don't want to die, Please don't kill me. We've actually
been contacted by people who believe theirfamily members are serial killers. True crime
comes in all shapes and sizes.The first time that went out there,
this is gonna go down bad.Some stories will shock you. This is

(33:05):
a murderer. I know that peopleare innocent until proven guilty, but we're
not talking about a smash in amailbox yet. Others might make you cry
to think that their anger or theirmoney is more important than somebody else's in
some prince's life, and some justleave us asking questions, lots of questions.
It was really unusual for a personto have on men's dress ofs and

(33:27):
nothing else. That's very odd.Our new weekly podcast, True Crime Chronicles,
covers them all. I'm Will Johnsonand I'm Jessica Nol and we believe
that it's vital to talk to thepeople who were there when it all went
down. I was basically left fordead by him. They followed my every
move. I got bit thriched bythe hundreds. We're diving deep into our
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(33:52):
you about ones you might not haveheard of. Community Steele talks about it
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bigger, more well known stories.This is the largest cluster of unsolved strangulations
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to Apple podcast or wherever you listento podcasts. There is no retirement plan

(34:14):
for serial killers. My name isAsca Aska sr Reef. I am five
years old. I am in kindergartenat Stevenson School in Displains, and I

(34:40):
am doing a podcast on a storyI wrote. The name is Stealer of
the Diming. Listen to this episodeof ASCA's mystery podcast, written and created

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Episode 23 - Rushed Execution Series Part V - Jack Jones Part 1

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 23 - Rushed Execution Series Part V - Jack Jones Part 1