Tekeith Jones Charged In St. Paul Triple Homicide, Says Killings Were Act Of Salvation
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A St. Paul man charged with killing a mother and her two children over the weekend allegedly told police he did it to save the children.
According to a criminal complaint, 26-year-old Tekeith Jones is charged with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 30-year-old D'Zondria Wallace, her 14-year-old daughter La'Porsha and 11-year-old son Ja'Corbie. Family told WCCO D'Zondria was two months pregnant when she was killed.
Jones made his first court appearance Tuesday morning in Ramsey County. A judge set his bail at $5 million.
RELATED: Mother Killed In St. Paul Shooting Was Pregnant With Another Child, Family Says
The complaint states officers were called to a home on Jessie Street in St. Paul Saturday afternoon. The 911 caller said there were three people in the house and "blood everywhere."
Police found La'Porsha and D'Zondria unconscious and not breathing. Ja'Corbie was breathing, and the complaint states he told police his killer was named "Keith," identifying him as D'Zondria's boyfriend. Ja'Corbie later died at the hospital.
Autopsies would reveal D'Zondria was shot twice, La'Porsha was shot 10 times and Ja'Corbie was shot five times.
A relative told police D'Zondria was dating a short man with tattoos named Keith. Surveillance video from the home showed a man outside the Jessie Street home about half an hour before police found the gruesome scene. He went inside of the home, then ran out of the house toward a damaged Jeep.
A state trooper found a Jeep with matching damage on Highway 61 later Saturday. A man by the Jeep told the trooper it was out of gas. The trooper promised to come back and help, but when he returned, the man was gone.
The Jeep's owner said a man she knew as Santana (later identified as a Facebook alias used by Jones) took the Jeep. She told police she had dropped off "Santana" at the Jessie Street home before.
Officers identified Jones and arrested him during a search of his apartment, which turned up a handgun and ammunition.
During an interview with police, Jones said he was "going through a life experience he didn't understand" and "he was going to save someone so they wouldn't have to go through what he did," the complaint states.
When officers brought up the slayings, Jones positively identified the victims. Jones said he was trying to keep D'Zondria "from killing her own kids" and that she was "playing mind games and corrupting the kids."
Investigators asked Jones "if he saved them by shooting them."
"Hell yeah, I saved them," he said, according to the complaint. "They can go up there and be holy."
He twice denied killing anyone, but eventually admitted to the slayings, the complaint states. He said he is "not a monster," that he "kissed them all" and that he "was just trying to break the cycle and did not want them to feel the pain that he felt."
A relative identified Jones as D'Zondria's boyfriend and said Jones previously broke into her home and assaulted her while accusing her of seeing other men. The next morning, the relative said, Jones shot his pistol at D'Zondria.
The relative said D'Zondria began dating someone else in early January.
D'Zondria's cousin Moesha Whitehall set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.
There is a state domestic abuse hotline available 24 hours a day. The number is 866-223-1111.
