Child killer prayed in tongues and told his preacher ‘there’s a monster in me trying to get out’ before beating and strangling his kids to death

Timothy Ray Jones Jr is on trial for murder in Lexington, Kentucky, for murdering his five young children in 2014 is pleading not guilty on the  basis of insanity

The 34-year-old dad is ccused of murdering his sons, Nahtahn, 6, Elias, 7, and Gabriel, 2, as well as his daughters, Merah, 8 and one-year-old Abigail 

His former preacher testified Friday about his ‘praying in tongues’ and believing the cleric’s wife was trying to seduce him 

Pastor Micah Sutton told the court Jones was a disruptive force and once told him, ‘it seems like there’s a monster in my trying to get out’ 

Jones’ former couple’s therapist testified that he told her he was old-fashioned person who believed in spanking children

Jones’ grandmother, Roberta Thornsberry, talked about his traumatic childhood as the son of a schizophrenic mother  

At age 15, Jones was in a car wreck that left him with a ‘misshapen’ brain, according to expert testimony

 Children’s mother Amber Kyzer, broke down on the stand during her testimony

Jones faces death penalty if convicted

Timothy Jones Jr is pictured in court on Friday during his death penalty trial in Kentucky for the 2014 murders of his two daughters and three sons. The youngest was 10-months old 

A Kentucky jury deciding the fate of a man accused of killing his five children has heard testimony from a preacher who revealed that defendant Timothy Jones Jr ‘prayed in tongues’ and believed the cleric’s wife was trying to seduce him.
Jones is on trial for the 2014 murders of his sons, Nahtahn, Elias and Gabriel, and daughters, Merah and Abigail. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Jones has confessed to the beating and strangulation murders in a videotaped police interview following his arrest, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The prosecution rested its case last Wednesday after calling more than 30 witnesses, including Jones’ ex-wife and the mother of the victims, Amber Kyzer, who broke down in tears on the stand, exclaiming, ‘Oh God, My babies.’

The Pentecostal preacher who performed the wedding ceremony for confessed child killer Tim Jones in 2004 found him a fervent Christian who “prayed in tongues,” upset others in the church’s congregation — and believed the preacher’s wife was trying to seduce him.
Meanwhile, the Columbia family therapist who recommended in 2013 that Jones be given sole custody of his children during a divorce believed him “highly intelligent” but found it odd that Jones requested she not wear high heels during their sessions.

Timothy Jones Jr beat to death his six-year-old son, Nahtahn (pictured), after the child broke an electrical outlet, causing the dad to snap

Jones then used a belt to strangle one-year-old Abigail (left) and two-year-old Gabriel (right)

Eight-year-old Merah (left) watched her father kill her seven-year-old brother Elias (right) and was then strangled herself

‘ ‘My babies,’ ‘My Babies’. ‘Oh my God’: Amber Kyzer, the mother of five South Carolina children who were murdered in 2014, took the stand in the trial of her ex, Timothy Jones Jr., the man accused of killing the kids

Authorities charged Jones in connection with the deaths of his five children after he led officers to a secluded clearing in Alabama where their bodies lay wrapped in individual garbage bags.
Authorities in South Carolina and Mississippi charged Jones Jr. with child neglect before the multiple charges of murder.
On Friday, the 18 jurors sitting in judgement of Jones heard from Pastor Micah Sutton, who officiated the defendant’s wedding with Kyzer in 2004, reported the Greenville News.
Jones joined Sutton’s Pentecostal church in suburban Chicago in 2003 after the defendant finished serving a year in prison on charges of cocaine possession, burglary and car theft.
‘I used to joke with my wife that we had a church of 25 and Tim was the only one who could make every one of them upset,’ Sutton told the court.
Sutton described Jones as a devout Christian who could freely quote from Scripture, and who used his deep knowledge of the Bible to win arguments with other members of the congregation.
The pastor described his former congregant as a disruptive force who had no sense of boundaries.
According to Sutton’s testimony, Jones came to him one day saying that the attire and the manner of speaking of the preacher’s wife suggested that she was trying to seduce him.

Jones Jr. weeps in court on Wednesday. He’s facing the death penalty if convicted for the five deaths

‘Not Guilty by reason of insanity’: Jones’ grandmother, Roberta Thornsberry [L-R], took the stand as a witness for the defense and talked about his traumatic childhood as the  son of a schizophrenic mother

‘I explained to him that my wife is an extreme introvert,’ Sutton recounted.
Sutton also noted that on occasion, Jones told him, ‘it seems like there’s a monster in my trying to get out.’
Next to testify was couple’s therapist April Hames, who is 2013 wrote an affidavit at Jones’ request recommending that he be given sole custody of his and Kyzer’s children during their divorce proceedings.
Hames described Jones as an intelligent and loving father who valued good education. She said he claimed his estranged wife was unfaithful to him, that she was doing a poor job homeschooling their children, and that she did not wish to participate in marriage counselling.
Hames, who had more than a dozen sessions with Jones, said that the father-of-five told her he was a conservative and old-fashioned person who believed in spanking children.
‘He said spanking and corporal punishment was medicine for their sick bodies,’ Hames told from the witness stand.
Jones stands accused of beating his six-year-old son, Nahtahn, to death for breaking an electrical outlet.
Next, he strangled his son Elias, seven, with his hands, in front of his eight-year-old daughter Merah, whom he also strangled, along with his two-year-old son Gabriel and one-year-old daughter Abigail.

The defendant’s grandmother Roberta Thornsberry said her former daughter-in-law, Cynthia [left] was ‘as nutty as a fruitcake, or a bed bug’ – which left him traumatized

Both sisters’ last words to their father were, ‘I love you,’ according to Jones’ video-taped confession to police that was played in court earlier in the trial.

In her testimony on Friday, the marriage therapist mentioned that one time, Jones request that she avoid wearing heels to their sessions.
Also on Friday, the jury heard from Jones’ grandmother, Roberta Thornsberry, who took the stand as a witness for the defense, reported The Post and Courier.
Thornsberry talked at length about Jones’ traumatic childhood, having been born to a woman she described as being ‘as nutty as a fruitcake, or a bed bug,’ reported WLXT.
Thornsberry said her former daughter-in-law, Cynthia, would dress her grandson, then known as Timmy, in flannel shirts and jeans in 90-degree heat, would give him laxatives to cleanse his body and would at times withhold food from him, saying she did not want a ‘fat baby.’

Jones, seen [photo] in police custody in September 2014, was arrested after driving for nearly 10 days with his children’s bodies in his SUV

‘She didn’t act like a mother,’ Thornsberry said. ‘He’d be screaming and crying. She wouldn’t let me in the door… Timmy would be laying in the bed drenched in urine.’
By the time he was two-and-a-half, Jones’ mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a menn [photo]tal health facility, and Thornsberry had taken custody of her grandson.
At age 15, Jones was involved in a car crash that left him with traumatic brain injury.
Jurors heard from a neurophysiologist who said that as a result of the injury, Jones had a ‘misshapen’ and ‘broken’ brain.
A prosecutor countered by pointing out that despite the trauma, Jones was able to earn a degree in computer engineering and land a job at Intel.
Jones’ grandmother added that he was the first in the family to graduate from college and described him as being always smarter that his cousins and classmates.

Thornsberry said that a few weeks before the killings, Jones arrived at her home drenched in sweat and she sensed that something was wrong, but she did not know what.
The grandmother told the court she tried to convince Jones to leave his two youngest children in her care, but he refused, telling her, ‘Grandma, I can’t be without my babies.’

Crime scene. The killings happened in the home of Timothy Ray Jones, in Redbank, S.C. in Sept, 2014. After killing the children at their home he reportedly, wrapped their bodies in plastic and put them in his SUV, driving aimlessly around the Southeast US for most of nine days

While Jones Jr. killed his children in Redbank, SC, eventually he left the children’s bodies on a hilltop [photo] in Camden, Alabama

Thornsberry insisted that had she known then that her great-grandchildren were in danger, she would not have let her grandson leave with them.Jones was arrested after several days on the run with the bodies in the back of his SUV. When questioned by police on camera, Jones claimed he believed he had to kill his children because he thought they were conspiring against him.
He said that he’d had thoughts about killing them before but never acted on it.

With the bodies in his truck, he then drove around for several days, stopping at Dollar General stores and buying supplies, with the intention of burning them.
Police found a list in his car which included a note which read: ‘Melt bodies! Sand bones to dust or small pieces.’
He tried to saw off Nahtahn’s leg but could not bring himself to do it, so he put the bodies in garbage bags and left them on a hillside in Camden, Alabama.
Before he was arrested, Jones took out $500 and planned to go to Las Vegas to gamble.