GREENEVILLE, TN (WJHL) – Erick Eugene Jones, Jr. appeared in a preliminary hearing Wednesday for charges placed against him in December of aggravated child abuse and neglect in connection with the deaths of 2-month-old Trinity Tweed Jones and another 13-month-old Kynsleigh Easterly.
Investigators say blunt force trauma lead to the deaths of the two Greene County girls.
There were lots of tears in the courtroom Wednesday. The girls’ mother Kendra Tweed sat in the audience listening to testimonies from law officers and investigators about the death of her two daughters.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Scott Lott testified that Jones gave the TBI a statement two days after the girls’ deaths.
“I had been hoping Kynsleigh wasn’t dead, but I was too high and freaking out,” Lott read from Jones’ statement.
In the statement, Jones said the night of December 16th he smoked marijuana and sold cocaine.
According to the statement, later that night he found Kynsleigh with no pulse but didn’t call for help because he was high.
“I freaked out for a while and I felt my dope in my pockets and flushed it. I put Kynsleigh back on her stomach and covered her with a blanket. I didn’t want to be caught with the dope. I freaked out for two or three hours until Kendra got home and I didn’t tell Kendra,” Lott read from Jones’ statement. Kendra Tweed is the girls’ mom.
911 was called in the morning.
A Greeneville Police officer testified that when he arrived at the home a three-year-old was also there, in good condition.
“So I took her to the next room and I said you know it’s going to be okay she said well I’m not hurt, I hope my sisters are okay so we could watch cartoons,” Officer James Craft said. “Looking in that child’s eyes I seen that she had experienced some kind of shock.”
Both Kynsleigh and her sister Trinity were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
According to the autopsy, the manner of death for both was homicide.
The Greene County Grand Jury will now hear the charges against Jones. He is scheduled to appear in criminal court July 31st.
Copyright 2015 WJHL. All rights reserved.
