



A grandmother of Adrian Jones, a 7-year-old boy who died at a rural residence on North 99th in Kansas City, Kansas, stated she is glad that Mike A. Jones pleaded guilty and there will not be a trial.

Jones, father of Adrian Jones, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder in the case, in which Adrian’s body was found in a barn or shed on the property in November 2015. He is expected to be sentenced in May in Wyandotte County District Court. Adrian’s stepmother, Heather Jones, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case in October 2016.

“We as a family are just glad that Mike decided to plea, which saves us from having to endure the agony of a trial,” stated Judy Conway, grandmother. “I’m okay with the life in prison with a hard 25, but of course I wish that it would have been life in prison with a minimum a hard 50.

“As we move forward we will continue to seek answers as how the system failed Adrian,” Conway stated.

In a letter about a month ago, Conway, of Emporia, wrote that she was seeking answers to questions about her grandson’s death.

“One thing I know is that Mike and Heather used homeschooling as a way to keep Adrian and his two sisters isolated, and there was little if any motivation to actually educate,” Conway wrote. She added that in Kansas, there is virtually no checking on these children, after parents file registration information with the state.

“Without protection for at-risk homeschooled children, we will continue to see a tragic pattern of severe abuse and child fatalities in homeschool settings,” Conway stated in her letter a month ago. “While the majority of homeschooling parents are not abusive and provide a wonderful learning experience for their children, the consequences to those who do experience abuse are catastrophic.”