Connie Jones
Connie Jones, the ex-wife of multiple murder suspect Dwight Lamon Jones, is a Phoenix-area radiologist and author who was embroiled in a high-conflict divorce with Jones for years. The gunman had launched a disparaging social media campaign against her on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Jones revealed that her current husband, a former police detective, first pieced together that her ex-husband should be a suspect as the string of murders broke out in Scottsdale and Phoenix. She called Dwight Lamon Jones a “very emotionally disturbed person” and said she had “feared for my safety for the past nine years.” She expressed deep sadness over the deaths.
In the statement to 12News, Connie Jones revealed that her current husband, Richard Anglin, a retired Phoenix police detective, “recognized the connection to my divorce and the three crime scenes and he notified the Phoenix Police violent crime unit on Saturday night. I also contacted the Scottsdale Police Department on Sunday morning. Any reward money collected will be donated to the families of the victims and to Chrysalis, the non-profit agency that helps victims of domestic abuse and violence. Over the next several days, my family will attempt to come to grips with this horrible chain of events.” The number of crime scenes has now grown to encompass six victims.
Dwight Jones, 56, has been named by multiple Arizona news outlets as the now deceased gunman who slew six people in the span of just a few days, shaking the Arizona legal and medical communities. The named victims include a prominent psychiatrist, Steven Pitt, who was involved in the JonBenet Ramsey case; two paralegals named Veleria Sharp and Laura Anderson; and a hypnotherapist, Marshall Levine. They were all slain by the same gunman, Scottsdale police now say. 12News is also reporting that Dwight Jones might be tied to a double murder in Fountain Hill, and the names of those victims are Bryon Thomas and Mary Simmons. Their link to Jones is not clear. Police have confirmed there are two more victims.
Here is a picture of Dwight Jones, the suspect police have linked to the 6 murders of Steve Pitt, Laura Anderson, Veleria Sharp, Marshall Levine, & 2 unidentified people in Fountain Hills. Jones killed himself in a North Scottsdale hotel today when police entered. #azfamily
The suspect, who has not been named by police, killed himself on June 4, 2018 in an extended stay hotel. Police do not feel the homicides are random. 12News identified the suspect as Dwight Lamon Jones, 56, based on sources. A motive was not released. ABC News also reported Jones’ name and said that all of the murders occurred with the same gun.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Dwight Lamon Jones & Connie Jones Had a Bitter Divorce That Involved Some of the Murder Victims or Where They Worked
FacebookLaura Anderson (top left), Veleria Sharp (right) and Steven Pitt.
It appears that Dwight Lamon Jones set out to pick off various people associated with his divorce case, even though it concluded in 2011, local news reports say. Court records reviewed by Heavy show that the divorce was extremely contentious. The conflict revolved around financial and child custody issues.
Connie Jones was the petitioner in the case; Dwight Jones acted as his own attorney. Wages were garnished at one point from Bank of America.
According to 12 News, one of the victims, Steven Pitt, “did a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Jones about eight years ago, during Jones’ bitter divorce from his wife,” and two paralegals who were gunned down worked at a law firm that employed Jones’ wife’s divorce attorney. Furthermore, the TV station reported that Jones had seen a therapist at the office where Marshall Levine, the fourth victim, died.
Dwight Jones’ “son was required to see Pitt as part of the divorce agreement and his son was required to see a psychiatrist who would have been in the same office as Levine, but Levine had been subletting the space when he was shot and killed,” KTAR-TV reported. The TV station reported that Pitt testified against Dwight Jones in court, arguing that Jones “had anxiety and mood disorders and features of a paranoid personality.”
LinkedInMarshall Levine
Court records obtained by Heavy show that Jones’ wife was named Connie and that she was represented by an attorney named Elizabeth Feldman in the divorce case, which was highly conflictual.
Here’s part of that record:
Here’s more of the court record in the divorce case, showing how contested it was.
The divorce case has many pages of notations.
You can see the rest of it here. The court records say there was a minor child involved in the divorce case and a psychiatric evaluation was conducted on Dwight Jones. There was a motion filed in the case to cease visitation with the child. Dwight Jones asked for an order on maintenance. In 2012, there was an order of protection hearing in the case. Wages were garnished. The last notation in the case related to an exhibit in 2017. The case continued in vigor through 2016, though, due to allegations of non payment of child support, court records show.
Online records show Dwight Lamon Jones had lived in various other states throughout the years, such as North Carolina and Texas, but he shows up as tied to Arizona in 2004.
Some members of the legal community in Scottsdale and Phoenix were very unhappy with the police handling of the shooting deaths because police did not release a suspect name even as they said the homicides seemed connected. (Three of the murders occurred in Scottsdale, and one occurred in Phoenix.) “@ScottsdalePD several of us family law attorneys cannot understand why you are not releasing the suspect’s name in the Pitt, and Burt and Feldmen killings. Why not put tens of thousands of citizens on the lookout? We truly do not understand,” wrote one woman on Twitter.
2. Jones Posted Disturbing YouTube Videos About His Wife & Connie Jones Is a Doctor
Connie Jones
Jones had a social media presence. In May, shortly before the rampage, he posted YouTube videos about Connie and their son. It’s not clear what was in the videos because they were deleted by the social platform. However, he also posted on Facebook about them.
He titled one video “exposing lowlifes.” Jones wrote in the description for that video, “open letter to my son. i have not seen since 2011 because his mom took him away from me… told her i was leaving her. she got a lawyer before me, set me up for death and the rest is history!” He made unproven allegations about his wife in that status.
FacebookA screengrab of the Facebook post.
Another video showed a white mask that Jones’ apparently wore to hide his face in the videos and includes disparaging accusations about his ex wife. In another video, Jones appears to have posted an interview conducted as part of the court proceedings with his ex-wife, titled, “interview with a lying female doctor…” There is zero evidence that any of the accusations by Dwight Jones about Connie Jones are true.
Jones also appears to have had a disturbing Twitter account in which he directed messages to his son, writing, “open letter to my son …been trying to see you for years.your mom stop the visits!” He then made disparaging allegations against his wife that are not proven. In one post he wrote, “i support the me to movement #metoo.” He repeatedly posted the same YouTube videos disparaging Connie Jones.
A screenshot of one of the Dwight Jones posts.
In March, 2018, Dwight Jones directed a rambling message to a girlfriend of his son’s, writing, “this is (son’s name) dad.please tell (son’s name) happy belated birthday and i love and miss him.i tried to tweet him,his mom blocked me and my family 2 keep us apart! you 2 make a nice looking couple! please follow.” He directed some of the diatribes to Arizona State University and news sites, and his Twitter handle bears his son’s name and the word dad. The account appears entirely devoted to disparaging his ex-wife and establishing some line of communication with his son.
Connie Jones works as a diagnostic radiologist and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in 1991 and has been practicing for more than 25 years. For his part, Jones has a previous traffic case in North Carolina that listed his address as Fort Bragg, but it’s not clear if he was a soldier.
The first to die was Steven Pitt, a 59-year-old psychiatrist, who was involved in many prominent murder cases. In fact, they are some of the most high-profile cases in American history. He consulted on the Baseline Killer and JonBenet Ramsey cases. Pitt was also involved in consulting on the Columbine school shooting, according to NBC News.
Pitt also testified in the Jones’ divorce case, saying, according to AZFamily, that Dwight Jones “poses a high risk to perpetrate violence toward mother, the minor child and/or himself.” The couple had one son together.
Vincent Lewis, of the Phoenix Police Department said the shooting death occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 31, 2018, near Scottsdale and Bell roads at Pitt’s Phoenix office. Witnesses described hearing “a loud argument followed by gunshots,” and the shooter fled, according to AZCentral.com.
Pitt died at the scene. “We are not ruling anything out, but at this point, a loud argument probably suggests they knew each other either professionally or personally,” Lewis said.
The Phoenix New Times previously described Pitt’s work on the infamous murder case of JonBenet, the child beauty pageant contestant found murdered in her family home. Pitt, who generally worked with law enforcement, was a consultant for the District Attorney and the Boulder Police Department on that case.
Born to a homemaker and school administrator in Michigan, Pitt was described by the Phoenix publication as “a street-smart, openly ambitious wiseguy who seems most comfortable helping detectives sort out the psychopathology that has led someone — known or unknown — to commit a crime.”
Although he never revealed whom he suspected of killing JonBenet, Pitt was quoted by Phoenix New Times as saying of the child’s now deceased mother, Patsy Ramsey, “…what I see is someone who is a seasoned performer, someone who is verbally competent, very articulate, seductive, theatrical, and incredibly cunning. What I hear are some marked inconsistencies compared to what I know about the objective and factual data of the case.”
3. Two Paralegals Were Shot & Killed at a Local Law Firm That Employed Connie Jones’ Attorney
Arizona Mass Murderer Identified as Dwight Lamon Jones, Who Killed Half a Dozen Connected to His Divorce t.co/xNqGCTDE3o
Two paralegals were killed next at a local law firm. That double shooting occurred on Friday, June 1, 2018. The victims were identified as 48-year-old Veleria Sharp and 49-year-old Laura Anderson.
The court records confirm that Connie Jones’ attorney was Elizabeth Feldman. The website for the Burt, Feldman, Grenier law firm where the paralegals were slain confirms that Feldman works as an attorney there.
Elizabeth Feldman
“Elizabeth also enjoys conducting mediations with both represented and unrepresented parties, and has completed the 40-hour Mediation Training course. Elizabeth believes that whether your case needs an aggressive trial attorney to represent you during all phases of your case, including possibly trial, or whether you will be able to resolve your issues with the other party short of litigation, you deserve personal attention and effective representation,” Feldman’s bio reads. Feldman was not harmed in the murder spree.
The law firm where both women worked released a statement praising them. “Laura has worked with us as family for more than ten years,” it said of Anderson. “Her intellect, passion and friendship has meant more to us than we can even begin to convey. She was more than a coworker, she was a friend, a mother, grandmother, daughter and wife and gave all of herself to her family, her friends and her work.”
As for Sharp? “Veleria was a treasured member of our work family. She brought joy, calmness, warmth and compassion to all that she did. She was a dedicated mother, wife and daughter. She and her family shared a deep passion for music and their faith.”
Police said both women were shot in the law firm office, although Sharp, shot in the head, “ran outside and told a limo bus driver to call 911. The woman was transported to a nearby hospital where she later died,” according to ABC15. The second woman was located inside the law office building deceased, the television station reported.
.@ScottsdalePD say the two women killed yesterday were paralegals at law offices of Burt, Feldman & Greneir near Civic Center Plaza. They’ve been identified as 48-yr-old Veleria Sharp and 49-yr-old Laura Anderson.
“MORE: Scottsdale police also now confirming, what we reported late last night. The shooting death of 2 paralegals at Burt|Feldman|Grenier Law office is connected to shooting death of Steven Pitt #Fox10Phoenix,” Stefania Okolie, a reporter for Fox10 Phoenix, wrote on Twitter.
FacebookVeleria Sharp
The firm where the shootings occurred is located in downtown Scottsdale near a cluster of government buildings, including the local library.
4. Connie Jones Received Her Medical Degree in North Carolina, is an Author & Dwight Jones Had a Domestic Violence History Against Her
Sitting with down with woman who worked alongside the Hypnotherapist/Psychologist who was shot dead at his Scottsdale office yesterday evening. She is still in shock. WATCH:
Connie Jones has formed a respected medical career, but her marriage was riven by allegations of abuse.
“Dr. Connie Phillips Jones is a radiologist in Phoenix, Arizona. She received her medical degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years,” her profile on US News reports.
Connie Jones
According to her LinkedIn page, Connie Jones wrote The Breast Test Book: A Women’s Guide to Mammography and Beyond Clinical Breast Radiology Mammography Tomosynthesis Administration Interventional Procedures Breast MRI. She listed herself as medical director and radiology of Solis BenOra Imaging in Phoenix, which she described as breast radiology. Before that she worked in a similar position in Scottsdale. She attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Duke University School Of Medicine.
Her LinkedIn page says she was a Board Member for the Peace of Mind Breast Cancer Conference.
Dwight Jones had previous trouble with the law. “Jones’ criminal record involves one domestic violence case. Records show that in May 2009, shortly before his wife filed for divorce, he was charged in Scottsdale Municipal Court with misdemeanor assault, threats and intimidation, and disorderly conduct,” 12 News reported.
AZFamily reported that Connie Jones and Dwight were married for 20 years and he was “accused of physically abusing his wife countless times, including one incident where he fractured her sternum in 2007.”
As Scottsdale was still reeling from the murders of Pitt and the two paralegals came word of a fourth homicide that police now say was committed by the same gunman. “UPDATE: Scottsdale police now confirming this is a homicide they are working at a office off of Hayden road. Law enforcement source tells me it is a therapist office. And the man killed is a psychologist,” reporter Stefania Okolie wrote on Twitter.
Phoenix New Times identified him as Marshall Levine, “a hypnotherapist and life coach,” although police had not yet identified the victim.
“A coach puts the team’s needs first, because his purpose is to serve the team’s goals. He feels fulfilled by the team’s success. I coach because serving, fostering & supporting my clients in reaching their goals & overcoming their challenges gives purpose to my life. My clients’ fulfillment is my joy. This is why I have coached for 30 years and am still thrilled to continue,” Levine’s professional page online states. He worked for a business called “Peak Life Solutions.”
According to AZFamily.com, the fourth murder occurred “at a business near the area of Hayden and Mountain roads” and both Scottsdale and Phoenix police were investigating.
The fourth murder occurred on Saturday, June 2, 2018, meaning that a homicide was occurring every day.
5. The Suspect Killed Himself as Police Closed in, a Report Alleges
Just got on scene of double shooting at 75th & 1st streets in #Scottsdale. Just one block away from city courthouse. @abc15
The suspect, identified by the news media as Jones, killed himself on June 4, 2018.
“…officers evacuated people near the suspect’s room before they entered it early Monday morning,” reported Fox10, which added that authorities believe Jones died of a self-inflicted wound.
The police SWAT team entered the room, but law enforcement officials did not fire their weapons, according to Fox 10.
Here is the sketch of a man believed to be connected to the murder of Dr. Steven Pitt, Veleria Sharp and Laura Anderson. @ScottsdalePD @phoenixpolice Call police if you recognize him @SilentwitnessAZ #Fox10Phoenix
Police previously released a sketch they say is of the gunman, a male. You can see it above.
In addition to the sketch, police described the shooter as “an adult male, bald and wearing a dark-colored hat with a short brim.” The motive for the shootings is not clear.