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When Timothy Jones Sr. learned his grandchildren were missing, a deep, unshakable dread set in — he feared his own son had killed them.

“I remember I told my wife, ‘I know he’s killed them,’” the patriarch tearfully recalled to Fox News Digital. “I just don’t know where they are. But I know he has. I just know it in my heart. I could feel it.”

Timothy Jones Jr. admitted to killing his five children, ages 1 to 8, in their Lexington County, South Carolina, home in August 2014. He drove with their bodies in his SUV for nine days before dumping them in five garbage bags on a hillside near Camden, Alabama.

JOURNALIST’S DANGEROUS OBSESSION WITH A FORGOTTEN SERIAL KILLER UNRAVELED HER REALITY

Jones Jr. was later arrested at a traffic checkpoint in Smith County, Mississippi, after an officer smelled an odor of decomposition, The Associated Press reported.

His case is now being examined in an episode of Investigation Discovery’s (ID) true-crime series “Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer.” It focuses on parents forced to confront the unthinkable: that the children they raised and loved have become capable of monstrous acts.

Before the murders came to light, Jones Sr. said he hadn’t heard from his son. Then came a call from his grandchildren’s school, concerned about their absence. When he reached out to one of his son’s friends, he learned that Jones Jr. hadn’t been seen in the last day or two at work.

“Then the police officer called me from Mississippi,” said Jones Sr. “I tell him, ‘I just want to make sure he is OK, and the children are with him.’ He said, ‘What children? There are no children with him. We found a little bit of blood in the car, and we’re having it checked. It could be animal blood.’”

Panicking, Jones Sr. begged to see his son. At the trial, authorities testified that they allowed the meeting, hoping a face-to-face confrontation might break Jones Jr. and reveal what had happened to the missing children.

When Jones Sr. entered the interrogation room, he was stunned by what he saw. He said it was like staring at a wild animal.

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“He’s just a blubbering mess,” said Jones Sr. “I’d never seen this person before. I didn’t know that boy. But I just wanted to know where my babies were. And he was all over the place.”

That’s when Jones Sr. said his son suddenly jumped up and snarled, “I could kill you right now.”

“I told him, ‘You can’t kill me. I love you,’” said Jones Sr. “He was going to put his hands around my throat. He never did. He just sat back down and started crying. But I just didn’t have a good feeling. I’m trying to get him to tell me anything.

“One cop got p—-d off a little bit, jumped up, and said, ‘There’s a substantial amount of blood in that damn car. I want to know what the hell is going on.’ I just looked at him in shock, like, ‘What? You just told me there was a little bit of blood, and you were going to test it.’”

Jones Sr. offered to go with his son to find the children.

“I begged him, ‘Son, please, those children are out there by themselves with animals,’” said Jones Sr. “He told me, ‘You can’t go with them.’ I said, ‘That’s fine. Just take them to those kids.’”

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Jones Jr. eventually led authorities to the bodies of his five children.

“And of course, my life’s changed ever since,” said Jones Sr.

“I knew he killed them. But how could he? What man could possibly do this to their own children?”

As a child, Jones Sr. remembered his son as “a good little boy” who grew up without his mother. Raising him on his own, Jones Sr. worked multiple jobs but still made sure to be there, fixing him breakfast, taking him to school and spending long afternoons by his side.

But looking back, there were signs that something wasn’t right.

“He was just a normal boy,” said Jones Sr. “I didn’t have any trouble with him until he was about nine. Then he shot the neighbor in the back of the leg with a BB gun, which I got him for Christmas. He had this little puppy that he slapped and swore at. It seemed unusual. But I talked to him about it, and we never had that issue again.”

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In high school, Jones Jr. became increasingly angry, worrying his father.

“We got in a few tussles and got into arguments,” said Jones Sr. “But I thought it was no more than any other teenage kid.”

In 2001, Jones Jr. was charged with a crime spree that included burglary, car theft and forged checks. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. When Jones Jr. was released, he was seemingly a changed man.

“We used to go to church,” said Jones Sr. “But when he came back [from prison], he’s all hell-bent on living by the Bible. I told him, ‘Son, I understand what you’re trying to do, but you’ve got to remember, the Bible is the guideline of life. You can’t follow every rule in there because you can contradict yourself, and it’s just too tricky.’ But he was convinced that that’s the way it was going to be.”

“I went to church with him a few times,” he said. “He would get up and act crazy. I didn’t expect it. I almost felt like he was in a cult. He was talking in tongues.”

Jones Jr. married Amber Kyzer in 2004. The union was highly tumultuous, especially in the years leading up to the killings. The relationship deteriorated into a contentious custody battle, with Jones Jr. having primary custody. They divorced in 2012.

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“In the beginning, he was a great father,” said Jones Sr. “Seemed like a good husband. We would do everything we could to help with the kids. But when they divorced, I just thought, ‘My God, it’s going to be really hard for one man with five children who has to work.’ We really wanted to help. We tried.”

“I pleaded with him, ‘Let us help you. You have family who could help. I’m here.’ But all he said was, ‘It’ll be all right.”

On their last Christmas night together, the two men got into a heated argument.

“He told me how I never loved him, never cared for him,” said Jones Sr. “Now, at that point, this had been going on many, many times. He would tell me how I didn’t love him. I finally said, ‘I gave up my life for you, raised you by myself. I did everything I possibly could. I tried to give you the best life I could. How am I a bad dad? What did I do? Tell me what I did now, and maybe I can fix it.’ And he just said, ‘I never want to see you again. You can go f— off.’”

Jones Sr. said he would reach out to his son, hoping he could see him and the kids.

“I remember he said, ‘Would you like to talk to the children?’ Now I was supposed to see him the next day. So I said, ‘You know what, Timmy? Let’s surprise them. They’ll be really happy because they loved coming over to ‘papa’s big house,’ as they called it. I built a pool and everything for them. But the next day, he went missing.”

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“That’s always been my biggest regret, not speaking to the babies one last time,” he tearfully said.

During the trial, Jones Jr.’s defense team argued that he suffered from mental health issues. Defense lawyer Boyd Young claimed the prosecution ignored evidence that proved Jones Jr. was insane. However, prosecutors maintained that Jones Jr. knew what he was doing. The jury convicted him of five counts of murder and sentenced him to death.

Jones Sr. said he hasn’t spoken to his son.

“I just can’t,” he said. “I’m falling apart. I’ve lost my business. I damn nearly lost my home. I knew he was sick. But after the trial, he called and just acted like it never happened. I’m here falling apart, and he’s just laughing, giggling. I couldn’t do this anymore.”

Jones Sr. admitted he will always carry guilt with him for the rest of his life. He still wonders what he could have done to help his son and grandchildren.

“There’s no way I cannot blame myself,” he said. “Those babies should be here. I should have done something before it went too far. I knew he was going to have a hard time with five children. I knew all these things. I should have done more. I’ll regret that until the day I die.”

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it apprehended 60 smugglers off the coast of California in April joint operations with the U.S. Coast Guard

CBP’s Air and Marine Operations unit interdicted three separate seacraft off the coast of southern California from April 17-21, CBP said in an announcement Friday.

On April 17, CBP’s San Diego Marine Unit crews interdicted a 24-foot boat near San Clemente Island. The boat had 13 people on board, including seven men, five women and a juvenile female. CBP brought the boat to Ballast Point Naval Base for processing, according to the announcement.

The next day, CBP apprehended another suspected smuggler boat 80 nautical miles southwest of San Diego.

Aided by the Coast Guard’s Cutter Florence Finch, Air and Marine Operations’ Long Beach Marine Unit crew intercepted the boat near San Nicolas Island, apprehending 29 Mexican nationals. The Coast Guard transported the individuals and the vessel to Newport Harbor and turned them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, CBP said.

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The third and final operation occurred on April 21. The Coast Guard’s Terrel Horne interdicted a 25-foot cuddy cabin boat containing 18 Mexican nationals on board. The Coast Guard also transported them for processing by U.S. Border Patrol.

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Many of the 60 individuals have criminal histories for a wide array of offenses including failure to yield, driving under the influence, felony hit-and-run, making false police reports, drug possession, active warrants for resisting arrest, trespassing, burglary, possession of burglary tools, receiving stolen property, drug trafficking, aggravated assault with a weapon and domestic violence, according to CBP.

“These interdictions show the great lengths dangerous criminals will go to avoid apprehension, including taking to the open ocean in unsafe, overcrowded vessels,” Air and Marine Operations Southwest Region Executive Director Hunter Robinson said in a statement. “Their desperation puts lives at risk. Our crews are dedicated to stopping these dangerous individuals far from shore to keep our communities safe.”

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Border crossings and apprehensions are down significantly during President Donald Trump’s administration compared to former President Joe Biden’s. Border encounters during the first six months of the fiscal year are the lowest in recorded history, the Department of Homeland Security said in an April statement.

Fox News Digital contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and CBP for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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A fast-moving burglary spree is unfolding across Los Angeles, with thieves targeting some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods and striking multiple communities over the past week — even as police flood the area with patrols.

The latest incidents unfolded Wednesday night in the San Fernando Valley, where burglars hit homes in Studio City and Toluca Lake and targeted a commercial property in a separate theft that led to a police chase.

The violence escalated Thursday night when a woman in her 70s was strangled during a home invasion in the Hollywood Hills, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The suspects, described as at least two masked men, fled with cash and jewelry and remain on the run.

Those break-ins are the most recent in a pattern that began around April 10, with similar crimes reported across Sherman Oaks, Encino, North Hollywood and surrounding communities, in some cases with homes hit within minutes of each other.

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‘They’re looking at opportunity — not zip codes’

Former LAPD investigator Moses Castillo said the scope and speed of the crimes point to a broader shift in how burglars are operating.

“We used to think high-end neighborhoods were exempt from crime…that’s no longer the case,” Castillo told Fox News Digital. “You’re not safe anywhere anymore, especially in affluent areas.”

“These criminals aren’t looking at zip codes — they’re looking at opportunity.”

Highly organized and doing their homework

Castillo said the pattern suggests many of these burglars are strategic, often researching homes and victims in advance.

“They’re doing their homework — tracking patterns, watching when people are home or away,” he said.

That preparation, Castillo said, can start online.

“If you’re posting your valuables, your lifestyle…you’re making yourself a target,” Castillo warned. “If you can find your information online, so can they.”

He added that some crews use lookouts and real-time communication to move quickly and avoid police detection.

Why the crimes keep spreading

The pattern of burglaries across multiple neighborhoods may reflect how suspects adapt when enforcement intensifies.

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“These crime waves last as long as the suspects are still out there,” Castillo said. “If an area gets too hot, they just move to the next neighborhood.”

That mobility may help explain why communities across the Valley have continued to see break-ins, even as patrols increase.

A violation that goes beyond theft

For victims, the impact goes far beyond stolen property.

“People describe this as a ‘house rape’ — a complete violation of their home,” Castillo said. “It’s not just about what’s taken. It’s that someone invaded your sanctuary.”

He said many victims struggle to feel safe again after a break-in, with some choosing to leave their homes altogether.

Risk of escalation

Castillo warned the danger increases if homeowners encounter suspects during a burglary.

“If you walk in during a burglary, you can become a victim of violence,” Castillo said. “These crimes can escalate — home invasions, assaults, even kidnappings.”

He also described cases in which suspects used a ruse to get victims to open the door.

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“They’ll use a ruse… knock on the door, get you to open it and then it’s over,” he said.

Police response and pressure to stop the spree

The LAPD has increased patrols, deployed air support and license plate readers, and expanded coordination across units in response to the spike.

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Mayor Karen Bass said the city is taking a zero-tolerance approach.

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“The safety of every Angeleno is my number one priority,” Bass said. “The City has zero tolerance for these recent burglaries.”

But despite the increased presence, the break-ins have continued, leaving residents on edge.

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What it will take to stop it

Castillo said enforcement alone will not be enough to stop the spree.

“Police can’t do it alone, it’s going to take the community,” he said. “If you see something, even if you’re not sure, call it in. That could be the break that blows the case wide open.”

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What residents can do now

As the spree stretches across multiple communities, Castillo said homeowners should take extra precautions.

“Don’t rely solely on cameras or basic alarm systems,” he cautioned, warning that some burglars may cut power and compromise them. “Be vigilant.”

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He also urged residents to be mindful of what they share publicly.

“Sometimes we are our own worst enemies,” Castillo said. “Whatever you can find about yourself online, they can too.”

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For years, Asheville, North Carolina, marketed itself as a mountain escape known for breweries, boutique hotels and Blue Ridge views. But residents and critics say a different reality has taken shape in the wake of Hurricane Helene: panhandling at intersections, public intoxication, encampments and an unsafe downtown.

Carl Mumpower, a private practice clinical psychologist, lifelong Asheville resident and former City Council member who served from 2001 until 2009, said the city’s current challenges stem from decisions made over decades.

“Asheville began its efforts to address homelessness at least three decades ago. This effort accelerated in the early part of this century with the first ‘Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness,’” Mumpower told Fox News Digital.

“That plan was ill advised but passed with a super-majority. At the time, I suggested to the council that any plan that removed personal accountability from the helping equation was doomed to fail.”

LEFTIST LAWMAKERS WANT TO MAKE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS A NATIONWIDE CRISIS

Mumpower said the city has continued down the same path ever since.

“That plan and subsequent plans have failed with equal enthusiasm. Homelessness, drug abuse, and related crimes have increased relentlessly under the watch of local homelessness experts and a governing body that is dominated by liberal Democrats and those with an even more extreme view to the left. That lack of balance — the last conservative on the council was in 2009 — has led to a myopic repeat of errors.”

He also argued that city leaders relied on ideas that were not grounded in practical solutions.

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“As regards homelessness, Asheville has a persisting history of pursuing fantasized interventions over more realistic, measurable and trackable solutions.”

The Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care, the local, government-supported coalition responsible for coordinating federal homelessness planning and services in Asheville and Buncombe County, said homelessness in the region is at its highest level on record in its latest count.

Data from the group’s 2026 Point-in-Time survey found 824 people experiencing homelessness, a 9.1% increase from 2025. That included 334 people living unsheltered, up 1.8% from the prior year. Nearly 500 others were in shelters or transitional housing, a rise the Continuum of Care attributed partly to expanded emergency shelter and transitional housing capacity.

These “fantasize interventions,” Mumpower said, were accompanied by the city’s pursuit of defunding the police department.

“The council’s political dismantling of the police department — resulting in a 40% reduction due to retirements and resignations — has had a dramatic impact on crime in Asheville,” he said. “Most ‘smaller’ crimes are no longer enforced or realistically tracked, and return on investment costs have skyrocketed. We have officers who earned over $150,000 in overtime last year due to manpower shortages. Enforcement is not possible without adequate, motivated personnel.”

“The direct impact on residents is increased and unenforced crime, direct exposure to intoxication and violent street behaviors, and burdensome taxes and fees to chase the recycled program pretenses.”

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Mumpower said many local residents have simply stopped going downtown.

“The single most common phrase uttered by county and surrounding area residents is ‘I don’t go downtown anymore – it’s nasty, crazy, and scary,’” he said.

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He said tourism also suffers when disorder becomes more visible in the city center.

“Tourism is impacted, and those we attract are often coming here not as families, but as partiers seeking to join the fray.”

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The issue has taken on added urgency in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of western North Carolina in September 2024.

Michael Whatley, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, said the storm worsened hardship in the region and exposed failures in the government response.

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“The biggest issue set that we’ve been dealing with, obviously, is the hurricane relief coming on the heels of Hurricane Helene and the fact that the Biden administration and Roy Cooper, when he was governor, failed miserably to help that situation in terms of following the hurricane,” Whatley told Fox News Digital.

Whatley said that the administration’s clearance of relief funds will assist residents to get back on their feet.

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“As part of President Trump’s government response, $1.4B was made available by HUD for housing relief,” Whatley said. “And there also has been over the last month or so a lot of movement with FEMA in terms of the disaster relief that they’re providing to homeowners there.”

“We’re certainly not ready to hang up a mission accomplished sign by any stretch of the imagination. But federal relief that has been put into Western North Carolina is substantially more than has ever been given into North Carolina as a result of any storm by the federal government.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the City of Asheville said that officials continue to focus on public safety.

“This month we launched the Asheville Police Department’s Downtown Plan which will essentially double police patrols downtown – increasing day and overnight patrols and, in some cases, responding along with trained mental health counselors. Our REST Team program is an operational response to mitigate the effects of homelessness,” the city said. “It uses specially trained Asheville Fire Department staff to engage with concerned residents and people experiencing homelessness to problem-solve and connect them to resources.”

A city spokesperson also noted that officials expanded their panhandling ordinance and continue working with community partners like the Asheville Downtown Association and its ADID program.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Cooper’s campaign, the Asheville’s mayor office and the police department for comment.

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FIRST ON FOX: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department worked closely with a reality TV crew to provide footage and access to deputies — including video of arrests and use-of-force incidents that raised internal concerns — according to emails obtained by Fox News Digital.

The emails also reveal that the head of the department’s homicide and cold case units had been rotated out in the year before the suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie from her home in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills. Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been kidnapped months after filming for the show ended.

A June 18, 2025 email from show producer Amanda Riley shows she asked for the contacts of the sergeants running several units. In a reply two days later, Capt. Robert Koumal informed her that “the department has experienced some rotational re-assignments since last year,” and revealed that the leader of every team she’d asked about had changed.

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More than 220 pages of emails between PCSD officials and the show’s producers show behind-the-scenes exchanges in the creation of a reality show featuring a sheriff’s department that would soon become a household name as the Guthrie case played out. Her whereabouts remained unknown as of Friday.

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Some incidents included use-of-force and other behavioral concerns, including discussions over whether to provide bodycam where deputies were swearing to the show. In one case, authorities appeared concerned about an altercation in which the involved deputy didn’t start recording until after the fight with a suspect had ended.

Read the emails:

The emails were shared between members of the PCSD, its public information office, and producers from Twenty Twenty Productions, who worked on the A&E show, “Desert Law.” The series focuses on law enforcement in Pima County’s Sonoran Desert.

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While the TV crew went on a series of ride-alongs with PCSD patrols, show producers were generally interested in bodycam and other police-obtained video. They asked for a public information officer to be available to drive a marked SUV in order to create background footage, known as “B-roll.” Koumal agreed in a July 1 email, suggesting a deputy “take our new Tahoe.”

The producers also requested information from an infamous local case, the 1996 murder of Gary Triano.

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Triano died in an explosion in the Catalina Foothills after his wife, Pamela Phillips, hired a hitman to plant a pipe bomb in his Lincoln Town Car. It exploded while he was driving home from a golf course. Friends and family were waiting to surprise him with a birthday party.

She was convicted in 2014 and is serving a life prison sentence, as is the bomber, Ron Young, who was arrested after a 2005 episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”

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Koumal, the captain overseeing the sheriff’s community services division and records management, also sent out a note encouraging deputies to proactively reach out to the show producers “if any incidents occur.”

Producer Tom Olney praised the cooperation, writing, “thank you as ever for all your continued support, its amazing and absolutely the best I’ve ever received from any law enforcement department!”

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He also repeatedly voiced concerns about the wait time for bodycam records and offered to discuss ways to expedite and prioritize the footage to meet show deadlines. In some cases, he asked for his newer requests to be replaced ahead of older ones, a request that officials granted at least once.

It’s unclear from the provided emails whether any of the TV crew’s requests took priority over those from the public.

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It would be unusual for records keepers to allow certain requesters to skip the line. Typically, agencies process public records requests on a first-come, first-served basis.

The emails were sent between July and December 2025, well before the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, whose Feb. 1 disappearance from her home in the Catalina Foothills remains unsolved. PCSD is the lead agency on that case.