MEMPHIS – – A 21-year-old man who notified police last year that he had just discovered the bodies of his father and grandmother in the home they all shared has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.
A grand jury also indicted defendant Andre Christopher Jones on two counts of employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony. He is being held without bond in the Shelby County Jail.
Police investigators said that shortly after midnight on Sept. 12, 2021, Jones reported in a 911 call that he had just found his father, Ronald Jones, 53 and his grandmother, 73-year-old Martha Jones, dead in their home in the 1400 block of Amarillo Street near Cherokee Park.
The first officer responded within a minute and reported he smelled gunsmoke in the home and noted there was no sign of a break-in.
He said the defendant told him he had made a trip to a nearby store and that he discovered the bodies upon his return. Video from neighborhood security cameras, however, showed no one entering or leaving the home during that time frame.
Investigators found in the defendant’s bedroom live ammunition matching shell casings near the body. They also found a handgun with blood on it and an empty magazine.
The grandmother’s body was in the hallway and the father’s was in a bedroom. Both had been shot at least a dozen times. A motive remains unknown.
The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Stephanie Johnson of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 2 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 9 (Mental Health Court) and in Criminal Court Division 2.
