Three New York City relatives charged in cold case
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
UPPER FREEHOLD — Seven years after a hunter discovered her skeletal remains in Clayton Park, authorities say they have finally identified the little girl and charged three New York City relatives in connection with the cold case.
Monmouth County Acting Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced Oct. 10 that DNA testing had confirmed the little girl was 9-year-old Jon-Niece Jones of Harlem. Jon-Niece died Aug. 15, 2002 in her aunt’s apartment after years of neglect and abuse by her mother, Elisha Jones, Mr. Gramiccioni said.
Elisha Jones, now deceased, and two other relatives then drove to Upper Freehold where they dumped the body at the edge of Clayton Park and lit it on fire, the prosecutor said. A local deer hunter found the child’s charred remains in 2005.
”The family members of Jon-Niece Jones turned a blind eye to the constant physical and mental abuse this young girl endured for years,” State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said in a statement released through the prosecutor’s office.
James Jones, 35, of Brooklyn; Likisha Jones, 39, of Manhattan; and Godfrey Gibson, 48, of Manhattan; were arrested at their homes Oct. 9 and charged with conspiracy, hindering the apprehension of another, tampering with evidence, and obstructing the administration of justice. James Jones is the slain child’s uncle, Likisha Jones is her aunt, and Mr. Gibson is her aunt’s husband.
Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Thomas Scully set bail at $40,000 for Likisha Jones and James Jones and $75,000 for Mr. Gibson. Assistant Prosecutor Marc LeMieux said Tuesday that all three have posted bail and been released.
Elisha Jones, the main suspect in her daughter’s murder, died in December 2002, four months after her daughter was killed. The prosecutor said a “medical disease” caused Elisha Jones’ death.
Authorities had long suspected a family member or guardian might be responsible for the child’s death because no missing person’s report was ever filed that matched the description of the child dumped in Clayton Park.
”If we’re not able to find any reported missing children, we can only assume it was a family member,” State Police Detective Steve Urbanski said in a 2009 interview with The Messenger-Press after the unsolved “Baby Bones” case was spotlighted on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”
The TV show brought in renowned forensic sculptor Frank Bender to create a bust of what the child might have looked like when she was alive. The broadcast generated more than 100 tips from viewers, but none panned out.
In 2009, investigators had the University of North Texas DNA Laboratory extract DNA from the victim’s bones to create a genetic profile that might be matched someday to blood relatives to determine her identity.
According to a report in The New York Times, the break in the case came this summer, when Jon-Niece’s sister, who was 11 when Jon-Niece died, told New York City child welfare officials her mother had killed her sister and that relatives helped dispose of the girl’s body. Investigators were able to connect the details of her story to the unsolved Baby Bones case, and once DNA testing of the sister established her kinship to the dead child, the suspects were arrested, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.
Mr. LeMieux, the assistant Monmouth County prosecutor handling the case in New Jersey, declined to comment on The New York Times story about the sister’s role in helping to solve the case, but he did not dispute the report.
”Due to the ongoing investigation, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office cannot comment at this point on how the break in this case occurred,” Mr. LeMieux said.

