Heather Jones a Kansas City stepmother is sentenced to life in jail after previously pleading guilty to her part in abusing her stepson and murdering him last year.
Heather Jones a Kansas woman will spend at least 25 years in jail after pleading guilty last month to two counts of child abuse and first degree murder of her seven year old step-son, Adrian Jones.
The woman’s sentencing on Monday comes after authorities discovered the child’s emaciated remains had been fed to pigs at the family’s Kansas City pigsty in November of last year.
During her court appearance the woman said she was sorry for not protecting the boy from his father, whom Jones blamed for the child’s death.
A report via kansascity told of Heather Jones saying she was ‘truly, from the bottom of my heart sorry’ while claiming she had no one to turn to save her and Adrian from abuse by her husband, Michael Jones.
In interviews with The Associated Press, Heather Jones alleged that her husband abused her and the boy. She added that she believed her husband was plotting to kill her and the other children living in the home.
To date, the father, has has pled not guilty to premeditated first-degree murder and other charges in the boy’s death and is set to go to trial in February.
According to Wyandotte County prosecutors, the couple’s seven year old son had been the victim of ‘chronic confinement and abuse‘ before his death.
Court documents say Adrian was abused over a period of several months beginning in May 2015.
The documents say he was killed sometime between Sept. 18 and Oct. 4 last year.
The boy’s remains were found last November at the family pigsty located on the property where Heather Jones and her husband lived in the 5200 block of North 99th Street.
Notice of the child’s abuse and death came after police last year were called to the couple’s home after calls of a domestic disturbance. It was soon corroborated that the couple’s son hadn’t been seen for a number of months, sparking a search for the missing child.
Of note, a report via FOX 4 told of six girls living in the Jones home when police arrived at the family home at the time of the disturbance call.
The ages of the children ranged from younger than two to ten-years-old and have since been placed in protective custody.
The babysitters for the family claimed that multiple people contacted the Kansas Department For Children and Families with concerns about the children and their living conditions, which were described as deplorable.
Of question is what preempted child services previously taking action to safeguard the children’s welfare?
Addressing the court on Monday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Sheryl Lidtke said that the case was the most heinous crime she has seen in her 27-year career as a prosecutor.
Offered Lidtke: ‘He was horribly abused, neglected and ultimately killed,’
‘I’m sure his suffering was unbearable.’
The DA said the child had been physically and emotionally abused, confined, and ‘essentially starved to death.’
What led to the parents abusing the child to such heinous degree and then brutally disposing of the child’s body is yet to be necessarily understood.
