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The County Times
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Police: Jones’ Son Acted Fast to Save Mother’s Life By Guy Leonard Staff Writer Written reports from five St. Mary’s County sheriff’s office deputies and Bureau of Criminal Investigations detectives reveal that County Commissioner Cindy Jones (R-Valley Lee) admitted to detectives that she attempted to end her own life by hanging in a rabbit house at her home on Usher Lane the afternoon of April 6. The police reports, released to The County Times under a Freedom of Information Act request, detail the evidence collected during the investigation, which contradicts the family’s account that Jones, 45, fainted from exhaustion due to stress incurred as a county commissioner. Brian Jones, Cindy Jones’ husband, told The County Times in a interview last week that their 14-year-old son, upon seeing his mother unconscious in a structure on the property, panicked in telling 911 dispatchers that his mother had tried to hang herself. Brian Jones also distributed an email statement to local media and campaign supporters stating his wife fainted from exhaustion. The statement also pointed out that their 14-year-old son has ADHD. The police reports directly contradict Brian Jones’ statement that his son misinterpreted what he saw when he found his mother unconscious at the family home. Brian Jones also denied that his wife had ever tried to commit suicide. Based on observations on the scene, and interviews with Jones family members, police say Cindy Jones had been drinking beer that day at lunch time before she went into an out structure to attempt hanging herself. A detective observed a bottle of whiskey in the shed where Jones was rescued by her son and emergency responders, police reports stated. Police say commissioner Jones reported she was suffering from the strain of messages criticizing her handling of the budgeting process for school system funding. Entire paragraph-length sections of three police reports have been completely redacted by St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office leadership prior to releasing the material to the County Times. Based on context, it appears the missing information provides more details on why Jones was feeling stressed.
Dep. Shawn Hawks, one of the first officers on the scene, reported that Jones’ 14-year-old son was the one who had found his mother unconscious with a rope around her neck in the barn, and when he was unable to untie the rope, he called 911 to report the incident. Lt. David Yingling reported that the son was searching the home and property for his mother while on the phone with Brian Jones, when he saw his mother through a window unconscious in the shed. The 14-year-old was instructed how to break into the shed and then attempted to free his mother from the nylon rope, police reported. “Upon arrival I located the victim inside a barn and I observed her to be tangled in a rope,” wrote Dep. Robert Gill in his report. “The opposite end of the rope was tied to a roof support. The victim was breathing and alert. I untied the rope from the roof support so it could be untangled from the victim. “While untangling the rope I observed what appeared [to be] significant abrasions around the victim’s neck indicating the rope had been tied around her neck. I also located a partial bottle of alcohol on the ground next to where the victim was laying.” Once at St. Mary’s Hospital detectives Robert Merritt and Steven Koch interviewed Cindy Jones, and took a recorded statement. Merritt reported that Jones told detectives that after consuming beer and liquor April 6 she decided to kill herself by hanging. “She located the rope within a shed on her property, entered a separate out building, tied the rope to the rafter, tied the rope around her neck and laid on the ground, waiting to go unconscious, effectively ending her life,” Merritt’s report read. “She advised the decision to end her life stemmed from stresses of her current employment as a St. Mary’s County Commissioner. Further the specific stressors were false accusations about her being made via e-mail from St. Mary’s County School Board Employees, reference budget cuts/issues.” Merritt’s report goes on to say that Jones told him she had never attempted suicide before “and does not feel that this would occur again.” Dep. Dung Tan Ross reported that he requested a court-ordered emergency evaluation of Cindy Jones after she was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital by ambulance from her home. Editor Sean Rice contributed to this story.
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