The ex-wife of a man accused of killing their five children and dumping the bodies in Alabama is suing the state of South Carolina for granting custody of the children to her ex-husband.
Timothy Ray Jones, 33, is accused of strangling and beating his five children to death and driving for nine days with their bodies in his SUV before dumping the bodies in south Alabama, according to Daily Mail.
The mother of the five children, Amber Jones, says authorities failed to take action despite three years of complaints against the father. Timothy was granted custody of his children with multiple allegations of abuse against him.
After the children were killed, their father allegedly drove 700 miles to Alabama, where he dumped the bodies of his children in a ditch.
Police say they found Timothy in his vehicle with “a large amount of blood and handwritten notes with directions to kill and mutilate bodies,” as well as a “significant amount of bleach products along with the blood.”
Timothy reportedly admitted to killing his five children. Autopsies showed that 6-year-old Nahtahn was strangled to death, while his siblings, 1-year-old Abigail Elizabeth, 2-year-old Gabriel, 7-year-old Elias, and 8-year-old Merah Gracie, were all beaten to death.
Timothy has been charged with five counts of murder in connection with his children’s deaths. According to AL.com, the children were killed in in their home in Red Bank, South Carolina.
Amber has filed a lawsuit against the state of South Carolina seeking damages for “wrongful deaths and conscious pain and suffering of her children.” The lawsuit states that the deaths of her children were “entirely preventable” and states that Timothy is a “well-documented child abuser, and the state allegedly failed to protect the children despite numerous calls and investigations by DSS.”
