THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605290401 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN AND LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITERS DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 54 lines
Megan Jones - whose estranged husband, psychiatrist Tobin Jones, has been charged in her murder - may have died from a blow or blows to the head, according to a search warrant released Tuesday.
The warrant, issued on the home the couple once shared on Delaware Avenue, did not say what weapon may have been used, but police were looking for ``blunt objects,'' the warrant said, and they seized ``two drawers from small dressers.''
Tobin Jones, 36, medical director - on leave - of Norfolk's Community Services Board, has been held without bond since May 19, when he was charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The body of Megan Jones, 43, was found the morning of May 18 wrapped in sheets, clothing and rugs in an upstairs back bedroom of the Colonial Place home. She was reported missing after she did not call her parents in Oklahoma on Mother's Day. She may have been dead at least a week, police said.
The search warrant, issued May 21, offers the first clue of the cause of death in a case in which police have been unusually secretive about evidence. Prosecutors would not comment on the warrant.
Police took from the home a notebook, a picture of the victim, a pair of brown sandals, sweat pants, a pillow, the dresser drawers and samples of blood splotches.
Police were looking for blood splatters, blunt objects, pillows, sheets, keys and legal papers.
``Due to the blunt trauma, blood splatter would exist on walls, floors, pillows cases and sheets,'' the warrant said.
Authorities have refused to disclose the cause of death. However, lead detective Pat J. Dunn wrote in the warrant, ``After discussion with the medical examiner, the cause of death could possibly have been blunt trauma to the head.''
The search warrant said investigators following up on a missing persons report went to the Delaware Avenue home. There they ``observed flies and smelled an odor that resembled a dead body coming from the residence.'' An officer ``climbed up to the window and observed an apparent body wrapped in rugs and sheets.''
On Tuesday, police had replaced the yellow ``DO NOT CROSS'' tape that earlier had been removed from the house.
Jones, during a telephone interview from the jail Tuesday, said his attorney had advised him not to comment on the search warrant.
Jones said he had filed criminal complaint forms at the jail, alleging that a deputy and a police officer assaulted him, resulting in scratches and several bruises. He has not been able to appear before a magistrate to swear out warrants against them.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ARREST DOMESTIC DISPUTE by CNB