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Dale M. Teague

Jones is dead after an altercation over a $20 rock of crack cocaine, according to information from McKenzie Police Department Investigator Tim Nanney, the lone witness called during the hearing. He said Jones and Teague got into an altercation over a missing rock of crack cocaine.

Teague left the McKenzie Housing Authority's Walnut Street apartment, rented by Karen Cunningham, mother of suspect Dale Teague, drove to Eddie Horton's home - his mother's boyfriend's house across town, retrieved a handgun, and returned to confront Jones, whose body was discovered Thursday morning, April 12.

In questioning from Assistant District Attorney Steve Jackson, Nanney said the evidence indicates Jones was crouched over near the sofa in the living room, Teague walked behind him and hit him over the head, or about the head, with the pistol. At that point, a struggle ensued, moving into the kitchen, one shot was fired and struck Jones, who went down. Teague went into the living room, where a white female, Carol Thompson was. Teague raised the gun and fired the second shot while Jones was on his knees on the floor. One shot was found lodged in the vertebrae and the other was laying on the floor near the rear door.

The three were the only ones in the apartment at the time.

Teague and Thompson fled the scene on foot.

A housing authority neighbor, Temple Kimberly Hilliard, received a phone call from Teague asking her to go check the apartment. She discovered the body and reported her findings at 8:59 a.m. to her relative, MPD Chief Harry Cooper, who arrived at the 319 Walnut Circle crime scene by himself. Nanney responded in three or four minutes after being summoned by Cooper. MPD officers Kim Barker and Gary Walker also responded. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was summoned and the mobile Crime Lab investigated the scene. TBI Special Agent Joe Walker is in charge of the investigation.

An autopsy determined Jones' death was caused by multiple gunshots, said Nanney. A toxicology report indicated Jones was under the influence of drugs.

In cross-examination, Defense Attorney Billy Rowe questioned who entered the apartment. Nanney said Cooper, he, Carroll County Coroner Steve Cantrell, and TBI agents entered the crime scene. Nanney said initially the front door was locked and the rear door unlocked. He walked through the house to unlock the front door in an attempt to preserve the crime scene in the kitchen and near the rear door. The rear door was locked after obtaining a key from a maintenance man.

No neighbors heard anything. The adjacent apartment in the quadplex was empty, said Nanney.

Kim Hilliard gave the first evidence leading to Teague. Hilliard saw Teague and a white female, later identified as Thompson, running from the apartment. In mid-afternoon, Agent Walker and Nanney met with Teague at Fuel Pro on Highway 79 in Paris on April 12. Teague was transported to the Henry County Sheriff's Department by the two officers where they conducted the first of three interviews with the defendant. That interview took about three hours, off and on, said Nanney. Teague was arrested around 7:00 p.m. and transported to Carroll County Jail.

At the request of Teague, Agent Walker and Nanney conducted a second interview the next evening at the Carroll County Jail. The second interview provided lots of detail about the crime, which corroborated Ms. Thompson's statements, said Nanney. Thompson, also known as juice, was located on April 13 by Paris Police Department. Thompson was not arrested, but is facing charges on separate warrants. She also failed to respond to a subpoena for the hearing.

In response to Rowe's questions, Nanney said Jones had been arrested many times and was part of the drug culture of McKenzie.

Officers interviewed Natasha Allen, who walked to the apartment with Hilliard; Jason Edmondson, whose home Teague and Thompson stopped at following the homicide. Hilliard drove Teague and Thompson from Edmondson's house, back to the crime scene, where the drugs were retrieved, then to Penny Adkisson's residence on Park Street. Adkisson reportedly drove the couple to Paris, where they were dropped at a four-way stop. They then went to Thompson's friend, Lucille Patton in Paris, where a part of the gun was later recovered.

Judge Larry Logan said, "The court finds that the cause of death of Dwight Anthony Jones was criminal homicide, multiple gunshot wounds. The degree of criminal homicide was first degree murder at the hands of Dale Maurice Teague, Jr. Mr. Teague went to another place across town to get the gun, came back, loaded the gun, shot one shot into Mr. Jones' chest, and then shot another shot as he apparently lay on the floor, fled the scene, attempted to dispose of the items of evidence and disassembled the gun and left parts of it in more than one place."

In setting the bond, Logan called the crime a "cold blooded, pre-meditated murder." The penalty for a conviction of first-degree murder is life, life without parole, or death.

Jones, 41, was the son of Arnetta Jones of McKenzie, with whom he resided, and Tommy Jones of Trezevant. At the end of the hearing, members of the Jones family were briefed on their rights as crime victims. In the courtroom, family members of Jones wore t-shirts printed with the deceased's photo and the wording, "In loving memory of Dwight Anthony Jones."

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