This post contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.

2015

Kansas City, KS

Michael and Heather Jones starved their 7 year old son to death, but even then, they weren’t done abusing his body.

Adrian Jones before & after

Police responded to a domestic disturbance call at the home of Michael and Heather Jones in the fall of 2015. They had taken Michael into custody for assault and battery. He had fired a gun at his wife Heather and grazed her arm while threatening to kill her. While there, they learned that Adrian hadn’t been seen in months. They also noticed that there were security cameras all over the house. Around 30 cameras caught everything that happened throughout the home. What they saw was horrific.

The videos showed Adrian being beaten with fists and broomsticks by both his father Michael and his stepmother Heather. He was forced to stand outside in freezing temperatures and sometimes he had to sleep outside. He was forced to stand for hours up to his neck in dirty pool water. He was also shocked with a stun gun for up to 20 seconds. Photographs found on the couple’s computer showed that he had clearly been starved.

Adrian in neck deep filthy pool water

This video shows Adrian with his hands handcuffed behind his back, eating dirty food off of the ground. They put dirt and bugs in the food and made him eat it off the ground.

The parents used torture-like stress positions to punish the boy. Pictures found by investigators show Adrian strapped to an inversion table. In one photo he has cutting boards strapped to his front and back to make him stand straight and limit his movement. Other times he would be handcuffed with his hands above his head. These types of positions place a majority of the person’s body weight on just a few muscles to cause extreme discomfort.

Adrian strapped into a stress positions

Adrian strapped into a stress position

Videos showed him being taunted with food. He had his hands restrained with a bar of soap shoved into his mouth. His parents would set food on the end of the soap just out of reach. Even when he was free within the house, there were alarms on the refrigerator and the cupboards to ensure he couldn’t sneak food.

Adrian lived with his biological mother, Dainna Pearce, until he was 2-years old. In 2011 the boy was removed from her home due to inadequate supervision. Social and Rehabilitation Services investigated a report that Adrian wasn’t being supervised properly and determined that Pearce was guilty of neglect. They took the boy and placed him in the care of his father and step-mother.

He was placed in their care even though they had six other children and there had already been reports against that household. Two months before Adrian was placed in the care of Michael and Heather Jones, someone reported that there were “guns all over the house” and no food in the cupboards. There were multiple reports of drugs and abuse in the home, but they sent Adrian to live there anyway.

The Department of Child and Family Services almost immediately started getting told by the children in the home about abuse by both Michael and Heather Jones. They did say that Adrian received more abuse than any of the other children, though. One child said she heard the step-mother choke Adrian and that it sound “like he was dead”. A report says they suspected Heather of using methamphetamines and one time she accidentally shot herself in the foot. The investigation uncovered that the abuse from Mrs. Jones was more severe than that of Mr. Jones. Because the two had separated, DFS agree to let the children remain in the care of Mr. Jones as long as he didn’t allow Mrs. Jones access to them and if he followed a safety plan.

DFS wasn’t notified when the couple got back together. They continued to have reports filed against them with DFS, but the agency claims that because the family moved back and forth across the Kansas/Missouri border, it made it hard to keep track of the case.

Heather snaps a picture in front of Adrian’s cell

Nine months before Adrian’s death, they started keeping him locked in a shower full time. It’s believed that this was in an effort to keep him from reporting the abuse he was experiencing. They used a piece of plywood to lock him in a tiled shower stall and eventually he died of starvation. He was left in the shower for up to two weeks until Michael brought home some pigs that he put in their barn where they also had chickens and other animals. He threw the boy’s body to the pigs and they ate almost all of it. When Heather led police to the pen, there wasn’t much left of the child.

Heather plead guilty to one count of murder and two counts of child abuse. She was sentenced to a life sentence which means she will serve 25 years before she’s eligible for parole. She’ll be 51 years old.

Michael originally plead guilty to first degree felony murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He will also have to serve 25 years before he will be eligible for parole. He will be 71 years old. He tried to withdraw his guilty plea and requested a jury trial. There has been no news of that happening so it looks as though the judge denied his request.