Helenwood man charged with wife's death
HUNTSVILLE — Nearly six months following the suspicious death of a Helenwood woman, her husband has been charged with her death.
David L. Jones, 43, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday (July 8) on a 2nd degree murder charge for his wife’s death. Dewanna L. Jones, 44, died at the couple’s Helenwood Detour Road home, just outside Oneida, on Jan. 20.
David Jones called 911 in the early morning hours of Jan. 20, stating that his wife had stopped breathing. Scott County Sheriff’s Department deputies and paramedics arrived on scene to discover Dewanna Jones not breathing. Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead a short time later.
Days later, preliminary results of an autopsy conducted at the University of Tennessee Medical Center reportedly did not show enough evidence to support belief that Jones’ death was unnatural. Sheriff Anthony Lay admitted at the time that authorities “expected something to come back” from the autopsy, but said there was no reason to suspect foul play based on the autopsy’s preliminary findings.
However, Lay said that the investigation would continue. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also joined the probe, though investigators did not comment publicly on the case between the days that followed Jones’ death and the indictment that was handed down last week.
The indictment also charges Jones with two counts of aggravated assault, stemming from alleged physical abuse incidents that preceeded his wife’s death. The indictment cites March 2007 and Dec. 3, 2007, as dates when the alleged abuse occurred.
Jones was taken into custody Wednesday (July 9) by Sheriff’s Department deputies.
In a separate indictment returned by the Grand Jury Tuesday, an Oneida man was indicted in connection with the March death of a Pine Hill man.
John Stephen Godsey, 22, was indicted on charges of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in connection with the death of Anthony D. Slaven, who was fatally injured in a March 16 single-vehicle crash on Buffalo Road.
Allegedly, Slaven was a passenger in Godsey’s car, which left the roadway and flipped, ejecting Slaven from the vehicle. Godsey and another passenger, Eddie Slaven, were injured.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Brian Boshears arrested Godsey in connection with that accident several weeks later.