Man charged with murder of tow company owner (MO)

[TowForce]

Man charged with murder of tow company owner in Hamilton Heights shooting

 

Story updated at 8 p.m. Saturday with details from Jones' family.

 

ST. LOUIS — A 27-year-old man is accused of robbing and killing the owner of a tow truck business in St. Louis' Hamilton Heights neighborhood. 

 

Dwayne Davis was charged Saturday in the death of Jesse Jones, 44, of Elsberry. 

 

Jesse Jones. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Jones.

 

Jones' family members said he was in the area working on a vehicle repossession for his company, JJ's towing & Recovery, when he was shot.

 

His sister Stephanie Jones said on Saturday that her brother was helping a woman in the middle of moving who needed to move all of her belongings out of the car he was there to repossess at the time of the attack.

 

"He had a big heart," she said. "He was a big, burly man who you might cross a street when you first saw him, but he would do anything to make someone smile." 

 

St. Louis police were called about 1 p.m. Thursday to the 5900 block of Hamilton Terrace to find Jones dead with a gunshot wound outside on the residential street. 

 

He was found wearing big, furry slippers in the shape of a bear foot.

 

"They were lucky he was wearing shoes at all!" his sister said laughing. "He loved being goofy. He loved wearing overalls with no shirt underneath it. He loved tie-dye shirts. That's him."

 

The alleged shooter, Davis, was arrested the day after the shooting by Illinois State Police and was charged in St. Louis Saturday with first-degree murder, robbery and three weapons offenses in connection to the death.

 

He was denied bond in the case. 

 

Stephanie Jones said Saturday that her brother loved his new wife, Chrysta, who he married this spring. He enjoyed traveling the country on his motorcycle and reading. He is survived by an adopted adult son and a teenage daughter. 

 

"It is a huge loss for the people he loved and his family. He would drop everything and drive three states just to help us out," she said. "The world is a worse place today without him."

 

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