Lucas County assistant prosecutor: Body of missing woman may be in Michigan landfill
Prosecutors contend Nicole Jones' body was thrown in a dumpster and ended up in a Michigan landfill as search efforts for the missing Toledo-area woman continue.
"We believe we know where she is. The efforts to try and retrieve her body are ongoing," said Andy Lastra, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, on Monday.
Kaitlyn Coones, 17, a runaway teen living in a foster home in Canton, has been charged with murder and tampering with evidence in the death of the 53-year-old woman from Sylvania Township, a suburb of Toledo.
From Canton to Mexico: What to know about the search for Kaitlyn Coones & Jonathan Jones
Coones was arraigned last week in Lucas County Juvenile Court on the charges. Lastra said they are looking to try the teenager as an adult. She remains in a juvenile detention center in Toledo.
Ankle monitor stayed active
Nicole Jones is the mother of 33-year-old Jonathan R. Jones, a fugitive found in Mexico with Coones after a national manhunt earlier this month, investigators said. Her body has not been found and the manner of her death has not be released.
"She was placed in a dumpster by these two," Lastra said, adding there are no other victims.
Deputy Chief Jim Rettig of Sylvania Township Police Department on Friday said the homicide case remains under investigation. He did not release any details on Nicole Jones' slaying.
Her son Jonathan Jones remains in an El Paso, Texas, detention facility, where he awaits extradition back to Ohio. He was awaiting sentencing on May 4 in another criminal case in Wood County when he skipped town with Coones.
Jones and Coones, last seen in his mother's car, were found in Ahumada, Chihuahua, Mexico, on May 6 after an international manhunt. Lastra said Jones never disarmed an ankle monitor he was wearing, which helped authorities track the two.
"(Jones) will be brought back in the next couple of weeks," said Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn wrote in an email.
Coones returns to court June 1
Coones, considered a missing juvenile at that time, was brought back to Ohio.
The case took a turn on May 13 when charges were filed against her in the Lucas County homicide and for a juvenile count of felony obstruction in Stark County. Police in Canton alleged Coones misled investigators during their search.
She was initially booked into the Multi-County Juvenile Attention Center in Canton Township. She was moved to Lucas County on Wednesday, appearing in a Lucas County juvenile courtroom on Thursday.
Her next court date is June 1.
Lastra said the case is currently going through the juvenile court system. It will move to adult criminal court if she's tried as an adult.
Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @bduerREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Prosecutors: Nicole Jones' body in landfill, Kaitlyn Coones charged
