JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The ex-wife of accused murderer Michael Jones sat down with Action News Jax in hopes of dispelling the rumors she says are circulating about her online.
"I don't think anyone in his life ever, ever would have thought he could do this horrific thing," Sarah Jones said.
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Sarah Jones said Michael Jones had been staying with her and their three kids in their Mandarin apartment for two weeks up until the day he was arrested.
This matches what Marion County deputies told Action News Jax on Monday.
"It was just a circumstantial thing. The hurricane was coming through. I had never been through it and didn't know what it would be like. It was comforting to have another adult there."
She says he had been staying with her because he said he and Casei Jones had split and there was no electricity at his trailer in Marion County.
On the morning of the day when deputies say Michael Jones crashed his van in Georgia, she says she got a call from the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives told her Casei Jones and the four kids were missing.
She says when she asked Michael Jones what was going on, "He said he was going to take care of it. That he was going to go to the sheriff's office. He was going to talk to him and figure out where his daughters were and what did Casei do."
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"I wasn't concerned. I didn't think there was anything to worry about, and he seemed fine."
She said he had never laid a hand on her or the kids, so even when detectives told her what he did, she didn't believe it.
Action News Jax Dani Bozzini asked: "You never thought he was capable of something like this?"
She replied: "Never. He never hurt me physically, he never hurt the kids. He's never laid a hand on anybody as far as I know."
She said her belief in him changed when she asked her oldest about his van, where deputies believe he kept the bodies.
"I asked my oldest if Daddy's van ever smelled funny? And he said, you know, mom, dad has a bunch of cats that live around his trailer, and he says he thinks there might be a dead cat in his car."
It's a response that made her sick to her stomach. She says she was horrified and still is.
"I don't want say that I'm a victim because I'm not physically hurt, my kids are fine. I just happen to be an unwilling participant in this horror show that he created and I would give anything to have never let him back into our lives."
Watch the complete interview here.
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