THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020586
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 57 lines
Megan Jones will get her last wish after all: She will be cremated, and her ashes will be scattered over the ocean.
Her body was released by the state medical examiner Tuesday afternoon and transported to H.D. Oliver funeral home, where public services will be held Saturday.
A Norfolk Circuit Court judge authorized the release of her body Tuesday, removing restrictions that prohibited her cremation until after the trial of her husband, Tobin Jones. He is charged in her murder.
``This is a big relief for everybody,'' said Megan's niece, Leslie Capshaw of Oklahoma City, speaking for the family. ``This is very good news. This part of it is closed. We won't have to worry about the disposition of her body any more. This has been hanging over our heads for four months now.''
Tobin Jones was arrested in May outside the Delaware Avenue home where his wife was found in an upstairs bedroom a week after Mother's Day. Her body was decomposed when it was found, and a state autopsy concluded she had probably been asphyxiated and bludgeoned to death.
Tobin Jones contested the results and refused, as next of kin, to release the body. After Megan's parents gave up their battle for the body, the medical examiner's office sought to release it without the consent of Tobin Jones last week.
Jones has been found incompetent and is being treated at Central State Hospital. His trial has been indefinitely postponed.
Defense attorneys tried to stop the release of Megan's body, saying they needed the body for an independent autopsy.
Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. denied their requests but allowed the autopsy to be completed. The autopsy was conducted Monday at the medical examiner's office, where the body has been since May.
Capshaw, Megan's niece, said the family appreciates the efforts of the state and the commonwealth's attorney's office to get the body released.
The delays were caused by ``the irrationality of Tobin Jones,'' Capshaw said. ``This was not the state of Virginia. The commonwealth's attorney's office has been extremely helpful to the entire family.''
Megan Jones' service will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments at 1501 Colonial Ave. in Norfolk. H.D. Oliver said Tuesday they will not charge for the cremation or services.
After word that Megan's body would be buried in a pauper's grave by the state, the community stepped forward to ensure that would not happen. A family friend, Leslie Draper, coordinated the funds.
The family has requested that those funds be given to the SPCA.
``Megan loved cats, and any time she saw a stray cat, she would go rescue them, literally,'' Draper said.
Draper said the cremation will give a measure of peace to all who loved Megan. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
A public service for Megan Jones will be held Saturday in Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: MURDER MEGAN JONES by CNB