After 32 years, a Washington man who thought he got away with a double murder will spend the rest of his life in prison.
"After over 30 years, justice has finally been served for Stacy, Jacob, and their family. Over the years, 50 different detectives have worked tirelessly to reach this moment. We hope the Falcon and Dewey families find some comfort in knowing we never gave up," said Renton Police Chief Jon Schuldt, according to FOX 13.
It’s been over three decades when Renton Police Department responded to South 55th Street in Renton after reports of an unresponsive mother and a toddler were found in the middle of the street. During the wee hours of Oct. 28, 1994, a Seattle Times newspaper deliverer found the victims and immediately dialled 911.
Upon arrival, authorities found 23-year-old Stacy Falcon-Dewey and her 3-year-old son Jacob with gunshot wounds to their head. Autopsy report by the medical examiner showed Falcon-Dewey suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head and two additional wounds to her left shoulder and arm. In addition, the victim was beaten and raped. Jacob suffered two gunshot wounds to the head, with one at close range. Some neighbors heard a gunshot and a woman screaming around 2 am, but thought it was some teenagers partying.
During the initial investigation, authorities exhausted every lead, and the case went cold until 2002, when they, using advanced DNA technology and swabs taken from Falcon-Dewey, matched the now 55-year-old Jerome Frank Jones. At the time, Jones was serving a 56-year sentence in Kern Valley State Prison for killing another man in 1995.
The defendant was found guilty and convicted by a jury of two counts of first-degree aggravated murder late last year. King County Superior Court Judge Taki Flevaris sentenced Jones to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Mr. Jones, the court can only say that it hopes that all these years later, that you are not the same person sitting here today and that there is some path to redemption for you, if possible, not withstanding the circumstances that you’re facing,” said Flevaris during the sentencing hearing, reported Kent Reporter.
According to prosecutors, the defendant beat Falcon-Dewey, raped her, shot her toddler to death in her presence, and killed her. Though they linked Jones to the crime years prior, in 2021, investigators discovered Jones’ semen was also on Jacob’s jacket sleeve during the fatal incident.
Prior to the killings, Jones was also convicted of assault after shooting another victim in a 1987 robbery, and while in prison, he was convicted of assaults in 2004 and 2013, and felony possession of a weapon in 2016.
Falcon-Dewey celebrated her 23rd birthday, five days before her demise.
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