Murder Comes Knocking
A Gift Lures An Unsuspecting Dad To His Death
(Page 1 of 6)Feb. 10, 2007
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Jarrod Davidson, right, with his daughter, Malia. (CBS)
(CBS) Jarrod Davidson was gunned down outside of his
Santa Barbara apartment in July 2004, after someone had
left what he thought was a gift — a potted plant — at
his front door. |
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As 48 Hours correspondent Maureen Maher reports, Jarrod,
27, was going through a nasty custody battle at the time
of his murder.
And while detectives had a theory early on who might be
linked to the crime, it was a clue found in that potted
plant that would turn this investigation upside down.
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Jarrod's cousins, Courtney and Marissa, grew up close to
Jarrod and his younger brother, Michael. "When it's the
three of us, when it’s our family and he’s missing…it
hurts," says Courtney.
The tragedy has scarred everyone in this tight-knit
family.
It was not until he was in college that Jarrod
discovered his true passion: chemistry. And it was in
chemistry class where he met Kelee Jones.
Kelee says a misprint in the class schedule led her to
the "wrong room on the right day. And he was in the
right room on the wrong day."
"There was an instant attraction on both ends," she
remembers. And she says she fell in love.
About a year after they met, Jarrod and Kelee moved in
together. And not long after that, they had some big
news to break to both families: "We sat down at a table
across from each other and immediately he said, 'Well
the reason you’re here is because Kelee’s pregnant.' And
not a heartbeat after that, she said, 'And I’m not
having an abortion,'" remembers Jarrod's father Richard.
Kelee says she wasn't trying to get pregnant but that it
was a "pleasant surprise." But Jarrod's parents, Richard
and Susan, believe she got pregnant intentionally.
Kelee was three months pregnant in January 2000, when
she and Jarrod got married. But from the very beginning,
the marriage showed signs of trouble.
"I remember once after they were married, me and a
friend went to visit them. And she started complaining
that he didn’t squeeze the toothpaste right. And I said,
'You know what? Me and my boyfriend have the exact same
problem. We’ve decided to buy two separate tubes of
toothpaste. You have yours, I’ll have mine. Life will go
on.' She looked at me like I said the most ridiculous
thing in the world. And she went, 'No, he just needs to
do it the right way,'" Courtney recalls.
In July of that year, Kelee gave birth to a girl, who
they named Malia. "He was so happy. Just so proud and so
happy," Courtney remembers.
But those happy feelings didn’t last very long. Besides
the new baby, Jarrod and Kelee were both still in school
and he worked part-time teaching. In fact, they both had
jobs, so most of the childcare fell to Kelee’s parents,
Phil and Mindy Jones.
Jarrod and Kelee’s relationship continued to
deteriorate. "She started making accusations that he
wasn’t home enough, that he must be sleeping with his
study partner," says Jarrod's mother Susan.
Before Malia's first birthday, Jarrod had moved out and
filed for divorce. The court awarded Kelee custody and
granted Jarrod visitation; but Kelee made it very
difficult for Jarrod to see his own daughter.
"I thought because I had done most of the care giving
that it might do them both a little bit of good to take
their time and ease into it," says Kelee.
But over time, things only got worse—fighting over Malia
went on for the next three years. At times, Jarrod and
Kelee both dragged sheriff's deputies into the mess to
mediate their visitation disputes.
So when Santa Barbara Detective Greg Sorenson was called
to Jarrod’s apartment the night of the murder, he was
already well aware of the family’s domestic problems.
"Instantly, I thought of his ex-wife possibly being
involved in this," says Sorenson. "If anybody had the
motive to have this carried out, it was her."
But neighbors had reported seeing two suspicious-looking
people quickly leaving the apartment complex.
Kelee was immediately brought in for questioning. "I
told her during the course of the interview that he had
been murdered," remembers Sorenson. "She didn’t show a
lot of emotion. Wasn’t until we had mentioned to her how
we were suspicious of the way she reacted to us that she
started to cry."
While she may have had the motive to commit murder,
Kelee also had a strong alibi for that night, telling
detectives she was with her daughter and a friend about
90 miles from Jarrod’s apartment.
Her story checked out, but investigators weren’t
convinced that Kelee was entirely innocent. Finally, the
big break they desperately needed came thanks to, of all
things, the potted plant that had been found at the
crime scene.
Detectives believed someone had knocked on the door to
deliver the plant as a gift and lure Jarrod outside;
police discovered the plant had been purchased at a
nearby store just minutes before the murder.
Police had gotten a video surveillance tape from the
store, showing a disguised person buying the plant.
"She's wearing a baseball cap, a large baggy
sweatshirt," says Sorenson.
That was the same description of the female seen leaving
Jarrod’s apartment complex just after the shooting. "It
looked like Kelee Davidson. The person appeared to be
the same size, same build and walked similar to her,"
says Sorenson.
But Kelee did have that alibi. The investigation was
just beginning and it would take nearly five months for
detectives to realize this case was anything but simple.
Sorenson thought there was more than just the store
surveillance video that could link Kelee to her
ex-husband's murder.
Detectives were convinced that the gift card in that
plant that was found outside of Jarrod’s apartment had
his name purposely misspelled. "It looked like the
person was trying to disguise their handwriting and
disguise their true knowledge of his name," says
Sorenson.
That’s all a good theory, but it wasn't hard evidence
which this case badly needed if there was ever going to
be an arrest. Finally, five months after Jarrod’s
murder, detectives got another big break and once again,
the potted plant would play a pivotal role. But this
time, it was from the plastic card holder that was in
the plant, found near Jarrod’s body.
A state crime lab discovered female DNA on that card
holder, apparently from someone’s hands. And Det.
Sorenson felt pretty sure he knew whose DNA was on the
cardholder; police immediately went to Kelee Davison
with a search warrant for her DNA.
In trying to build a case against Kelee, detectives also
decided to focus on her relationship with her parents,
Phil and Mindy Jones.
Kelee said she was "extremely" close to her parents, and
that she discussed "everything" with them. Investigators
quickly determined that Kelee didn’t make a move without
consulting her parents, especially her mother.
Phil and Mindy Jones actively supported their daughter
in her visitation and custody fight with Jarrod. "These
are people that you’re either with us or you’re against
us," Sorenson claims. "And God forbid you be against
them!”
It became a long and ugly court battle. And Kelee’s
parents clearly saw Jarrod as being against them. "Well,
the arrangement was that he would pick Malia up at
Kelee’s apartment. But because Kelee worked late then he
would have to drop her off to Mindy and Phil. Early on,
they would call him names," says Richard.
Richard says they didn't say the names to Jarrod's face
but Malia's. "She'd take Malia out of the car and say,
'Your daddy’s an a--h---!'" he says.
Sometimes, weeks would go by and Jarrod would be kept
from seeing his child.
"They started attacking me in the courtroom saying that
I wasn’t cooperating, that I was doing everything that I
could to be vindictive and take her away from him," says
Kelee, who didn't see it that way.
But a judge apparently did: in court documents, a judge
condemned Kelee’s ongoing refusal to allow Jarrod to see
his daughter. The judge questioned Kelee's honesty and
her respect for court orders, strongly suggesting that
if she continued to deny Jarrod visitation, Kelee could
actually lose custody of Malia altogether.
"Jarrod Davidson was going to go back to court to try to
get full custody of that girl," says Sorenson. "And that
is the last thing they wanted to have happen."
"They wanted him out of their lives. They wanted him out
of the picture," the detective claims.
Just 19 days before that hearing, Jarrod was murdered.
Investigator decided to question Kelee’s father Phil,
who denied any involvement in the killing and told them
he couldn’t have shot Jarrod because he was physically
incapable of holding or firing a rifle. Phil claimed he
had been disabled in a nearly fatal car accident in the
early 1980’s, when he worked as a carpenter.
"Phil had painted the picture and told us his hand was
crippled. And he couldn’t carry anything," says
Sorenson. "Well, we decided to put surveillance on them.
Just to see how incapacitated he really is."
Police followed Phil and Mindy with hidden cameras and
captured video of Phil picking up what Sorenson believed
was a case of wine. "And it’s certainly heavier than a
rifle," the detective says.
Asked if Phil was lying, Sorenson says, "Right!”
If Kelee’s father was lying about that, the detective
wondered what else he might be lying about.
Phil and Mindy Jones told investigators they were on a
beach some 90 miles away from Jarrod when he was
ambushed and gunned down. What they didn’t realize was
their cell phone was tracking their every move, and it
indicated they were nowhere near the beach.
Cell tower records indicated that Kelee placed a call to
her parents that night, before the murder occurred, and
that they were actually driving down a highway, directly
towards Jarrod's apartment.
“Well, that’s very critical. That punches a hole in
their alibi being at the beach," says Sorensen.
But there was still the unanswered question about whose
DNA was on that plant card holder. Sorensen was shocked
to learn it wasn't Kelee's but her mother Mindy's, who
he now suspected played a pivotal role in Jarrod’s
murder.
"I believe that Malinda [a.k.a. "Mindy"] was the one to
put the plan together in exactly how they were going to
eliminate him," Sorenson says.
Six months after Jarrod’s fatal shooting, his
ex-mother-in-law Mindy Jones was arrested for his
murder. Detectives took a closer look at that store
surveillance video and now believed it was Mindy, not
her daughter Kelee who was seen buying that potted plant
used to lure Jarrod out of his apartment.
"When she checked out of the checkout stand she had the
sleeves of her sweatshirt pulled up over her hands,
which appeared to us she was doing everything she could
to cover-up possible fingerprints on the pot," says
Sorenson.
But apparently, Mindy let her guard down for just one
critical moment—a moment caught on just one frame of
that store video. "We see that person appears to reach
and grab what we believe was a plastic card holder,"
Sorenson explains.
It was the moment detectives believed Mindy transferred
DNA from her hand to the card holder.
Phil Jones was arrested not long after his wife Mindy.
Detectives were now convinced they both murdered their
ex-son-in-law.
Sorenson retraced the steps for 48 Hours that detectives
believe they took that night.
"Malinda went up to the door, placed the plant down on
the doorstep, knocked on his door, while Philip was
about 15 to 20 feet away, over in the bushes with that
high-powered rifle. Jarrod peered out the window to look
to see what was outside. He went to get the plant and at
that point Philip Jones shot and killed him," Sorenson
says.
Even though Kelee was nowhere near the crime scene, she
was also arrested, though her alleged role in all of
this was far from clear.
Sorensen believed Kelee was involved in the planning of
the murder from the very beginning. At this point
though, there was no evidence to support that and Kelee
and her parents all claimed they were innocent. "The
reality of it is I had nothing to do with the death of
Malia’s father," Kelee tells Maher. "I did not kill her
father."
Next to Jarrod himself, perhaps the most tragic victim
of this murder is Jarrod’s little girl, Malia, who was
just three years old at the time of the shooting.
Malia turned six last summer. She has suffered an
overwhelming loss. Her father was murdered; her mother
was arrested, as were the grandparents with whom she had
spent nearly every day of her life.
Jarrod’s parents are now raising Malia and trying to
help her deal with this tremendous vacuum in her life.
"I think the wisest thing that the therapist ever said
to us was, 'If you treat her as if she’s broken, she
will be.' And to be honest with her," says Susan.
When Jarrod was murdered, Kelee told Malia only that a
bad man had shot her daddy.
Seventeen months after Jarrod's murder, authorities
finally managed to get Philip Jones to confess to the
killing. But he did so only after prosecutors agreed
that his daughter Kelee would not be tried for the
murder.
The Davidsons went to court to see their son’s killer
sentenced, but it was a stunningly different Philip
Jones they saw: while in jail he had been diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer.
Struggling just to breathe, Phil Jones admitted he
pulled the trigger. "I shot and killed Jarrod," he
admitted in court. "Mindy and I believed that we needed
to do something."
As part of a plea deal, the judge reluctantly allowed
Kelee’s father to offer his explanation for why he did
it: Philip Jones claimed that Jarrod was molesting Malia
and had to be stopped.
This sickening accusation against Jarrod first came from
Kelee, roughly four months before the murder. Kelee says
she learned of it from Malia. "I just thought, with her
going to preschool, and that maybe she needs to know
where it's okay for people to touch her and where it’s
not," says Kelee. "I asked her if anybody touched her
where they shouldn't. And when she said, 'Yes,' I said,
'Who?' And she said 'My daddy does.'"
Kelee contacted the authorities, and Det. Sorenson was
assigned to help investigate what was a very serious
allegation. And at first it seemed there might be
something to the charge.
Sorensen says Jarrod failed a lie detector test over one
key question. "It was a question about inappropriate
touching. He was very nervous which was understandable,"
the detective says.
Because stress can sometimes lead to false results,
Jarrod's parents paid for him to undergo a second,
privately administered polygraph test, which he passed.
Investigators dug deeper and found no evidence to
substantiate the claim.
"We were not able to find any physical evidence, any
corroborating statements, anything that would show that,
yes, he did molest that girl," Sorenson says.
Prosecutors refused to take the case, since they
believed the claim was fabricated.
That was also the firm belief of the entire Davidson
family, who were horrified by the allegations, believing
Kelee made them up for her custody fight.
Richard Davidson, wearing his murdered son’s hockey
jersey, was allowed to address the court.
He angrily defended Jarrod. "We have also seen repeated
lies told solely for the purpose of slandering Jarrod's
good name as a sick attempt to justify the defendant's
murderous act."
Perhaps equally outraged was the judge in this case.
"Jarrod Davidson does not have the ability to respond to
these allegations because you killed him. You murdered
him! This is an execution murder, lying in wait. Thank
you. Court’s adjourned," the judge said.
Jones was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of
parole. He was sent to a special hospice unit inside a
California prison. Since his sentencing, it appears for
the moment that his health has improved dramatically.
In an exclusive interview with 48 Hours, Phil Jones
continued to insist that Malia was molested.
"I know for a fact, because she told me,” Phil claims.
He also claimed he was very sensitive to what Malia
said, because he too had been a victim of molestation as
a child.
"Did you or your daughter ever ask your son-in-law if he
had done this? Or if there could be any explanation for
it?" Maher asks.
"No, I did not. I didn’t ask him," Phil replies.
Philip Jones decision to commit murder appeared to be
based solely on the word of a three-year old child. A
child, prosecutors were convinced, who was coached into
making the claim.
"Maybe Malia might have said something. But three-year
olds say things that aren’t necessarily true and use
that as an excuse to go out and murder somebody is
outrageous," says Sorenson.
Asked if there wasn't another choice than to shoot
Jarrod, Phil says, "I sure couldn’t think of one. I
could not…I just couldn't come up with anything else."
Phil now feels he must protect his daughter Kelee.
The fact that he has terminal cancer, Phil says, had
nothing to do with his decision to shoot Jarrod, because
he says he didn't know he was sick at the time.
But knowledge of his fatal illness probably made his
plea deal to be locked away for what life he has left a
little easier to accept.
"I just confessed and plead guilty, in exchange for my
daughter being taken out of the equation," Phil tells
Maher. "She was threatened with life imprisonment. And
as everyone knows, there are a lot of innocent people in
prison."
Phil insisted Kelee had no part in the murder plot.
As part of the deal, Kelee was allowed to plead guilty
to three lesser charges, but each was still a serious a
crime—accessory to murder and two counts of perjury.
Outside of court, Kelee remained quite defiant. "By
entering the plea, I was in essence lying in the
courtroom," she said. "The charges I plead guilty to is
that I helped cover-up after the fact."
Kelee insisted she didn't help with a cover up. Asked
why she agreed to the plea, she says, "Because in my
opinion our justice system is flawed just enough that I
couldn’t trust a jury. I would be gambling my entire
life and Lia’s."
Kelee was sentenced to four years in prison, but with
good behavior she could be out after serving only about
a year-and-a-half.
It was an outrage to Jarrod’s father Richard, who again
addressed the court. "As for my son’s ex-wife, whom I
believe is personally responsible for the death of my
son and for tormenting him throughout the precious time
he had with his daughter—she should receive the maximum
sentence permitted by law."
So with Kelee avoiding a long prison sentence, and her
father’s deal done, it left Kelee’s mother Mindy as the
last—and perhaps the biggest target of them all.
Sorenson still believed Mindy was the mastermind behind
all this. But mastermind or not, Mindy refused a plea
deal for herself. She would take her chances in court.
But there was a problem: it seemed Mindy couldn't
remember anything—six months after her arrest, Mindy
woke up one morning in jail claiming she had lost her
memory.
"Yeah, she claimed that she had amnesia and that she had
lost her memory and didn’t know who anybody was," says
Sorenson. "Very convenient."
But it was not convenient for Mindy’s attorney, Robert
Landheer. He says she is completely incapable of
assisting in her own defense, like trying to explain why
her DNA was on the plant card holder found at the murder
scene.
"She asserts to this day that she doesn’t remember what
happened," Landheer explains.
Compounding matters for the defense, the witness with
the greatest potential to harm Mindy was her own
husband, Phil, who was called to testify by the
prosecution.
Phil did his best to not cooperate, by refusing to
answer questions, like, "Was your wife with you when you
shot Jarrod Davidson?"
But the judge ordered Phil to testify.
The defense hoped at worst to make a case for voluntary
manslaughter—suggesting, that in her mind, Mindy had to
kill Jarrod to protect her granddaughter. But the
prosecutor maintained that the family made the whole
thing up and the judge this time refused to allow any
mention of the alleged molestation.
As Landheer saw it, the truth of whether Jarrod molested
Malia was not even the real issue here. "They honestly
held that belief that the child was going to suffer some
harm at his hands," he says. "It was perhaps misguided
and tragic."
But given the tough restrictions from the judge, the
defense was left only with the opportunity to hint to
the jurors that there's more to the story than they were
told.
"Crime is sometimes evil. And sometimes crime is not
crime. Sometimes it is justifiable," says Landheer.
Throughout it all, Mindy maintained she remembered
absolutely nothing of Jarrod’s killing but that she was
innocent of the murder charges against her. The jury
took several hours over two days to reach a guilty
verdict for the crime of murder.
Mindy showed no reaction to the verdict or to the
sentence, life in prison, with no chance of parole.
Jarrod's parents and brother feel it is very important
for Malia to visit her father's grave. "It says he was a
devoted father, your daddy, and he was our son and he
was Mikey's brother," Richard tells Malia.
Richard still feels tremendous guilt, convinced he could
have somehow prevented his son’s murder. As he describes
it, he had secretly feared that the Joneses might murder
his son to get him out of Malia’s life.
"And I didn’t share that with him or my wife," Richard
says. "And I will live with that guilt for the rest of
my life, for not sharing that."
As for Kelee, it is thought of her daughter that keep
her going. Asked how much she misses Malia, Kelee says,
"I don’t even think I can describe it. I miss everything
about her. She is the reason I got up every morning.
She’s the reason I went to work. She’s the reason I took
the deal, so I can get home with her."
And it is Kelee's intense feelings for Malia that have
the Davidsons worried about their own safety.
"She’s in jail. There are bad people in jail. Our
concern is that she develops a relationship that gets us
murdered," says Richard.
As it is, the Davidsons already face a tough challenge.
Somehow, they have to help their granddaughter piece
together her life as she tries to make sense of her
father’s senseless murder by people she had trusted and
loved.
"As she grows up, she’ll learn more and she’ll
understand more," says Susan.
It has been an emotionally devastating two-and-a-half
years for Richard and Susan Davidson and their ordeal
may be far from over.
"This is never going to stop. This will never stop,"
they both say.
Never stop, because their granddaughter Malia’s future
remains uncertain. Kelee vows to fight the Davidsons to
regain custody when she gets out of prison.
"I believe it’s gonna be a difficult battle," Kelee
tells Maher. "But I don’t believe it’s a battle I can’t
win."
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Kelee Davidson is expected to be released from prison
this July.
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