The Florida teenager accused of killing and dismembering a man, bagging his remains and abandoning them in a desolate field, attacked the victim because he was a registered sex offender, police allege in an amended affidavit.
On Friday, March 20, the girlfriend of Lucas Sander Jones She told police she drove to her home in Indialantic on Florida’s north coast and found a chilling scene: black spray paint on the hallway wall, blood on the floor and in the tile joints, and blood stains on her boyfriend’s pants, the affidavit states.
“I killed someone and dismembered them”said Jones, 19. The defendant’s girlfriend told Palm Bay Police Department detectives that Jones murdered Colie Lee Daniel28, also a resident of Indialantic, with a baseball bat and dismembered his body with a machete, a saw and a knife “because he was a sex offender,” according to the affidavit.
Jones’ girlfriend claimed she did not know how he met Daniel, but that he had allegedly printed out a list of sex offenders in the area before the alleged murder.
Convicted in 2018 of lewd assault against a victim between 12 and 15 years old, Daniel technology a sex offender listed as a sexual offender and predator from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement website.
When Daniel did not return home on March 20, his parents used the “Find My iPhone” feature on Daniel’s iPad, which indicated he was at Jones’ address, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Officers went to Jones’ home, where he told them Daniel was inside, but refused to open the door.
The parents refused to leave until they saw their son, prompting Jones to call the police. However, when officers arrived, Jones refused to let them inside.
Officers returned to Jones’ home on Saturday, March 21, but found no sign of Daniel, according to the initial affidavit.
After police left, Jones allegedly put two plastic boxes and a suitcase into his girlfriend’s car. He and his girlfriend drove to a desolate stretch of road at 1574 Bombardier Boulevard in Palm Bay, known as the “Complex,” where they allegedly left their bags and suitcases in different locations.
Daniel’s partial remains were found on Saturday, March 28when the police were alerted about an abandoned suitcase surrounded by vultures in the “Complex.”
According to the first affidavit, human remains were found in the suitcase along with an Amazon package addressed to Jones.
On March 28, Jones was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence, desecration of a corpse, and improper disposal of human remains, which were later positively identified as those of Daniel. He was released on $7,500 bail on March 29.
When Jones’ girlfriend initially spoke to police, she stated that she saw Daniel lying in Jones’ bed on March 20. According to the first affidavit, she tried to wake him up. He said he left the room and when he returned, Daniel was gone. He claimed Jones told him Daniel had left through the back door.
On Monday, March 30, the girlfriend met with detectives and recanted her previous statementsaying he wanted to give them the “true chronology of events,” according to the amended affidavit.
In the second statement, he told detectives that upon returning home on March 20, Jones had told him not to say anything to the police. He said he never saw Daniel and that he had already been killed and dismembered, according to the amended affidavit.
In addition to telling detectives that Jones had confessed to killing Daniel, he also provided details about evidence that authorities had not yet discovered, including how Jones allegedly saved some of Daniel’s blood to place on microscope slides.
On Wednesday, April 1, Jones was arrested again and, this time, charged with first-degree murder.
Jones is currently being held without bond at the Brevard County Jail, awaiting his next court appearance.
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