Grieving Sacramento Mother Finally Has Son's Remains 3 Months After His Murder
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Three months after his murder, a grieving mother will finally be able to lay her teenage son to rest.
Richard Jones, Jr., 17, was found in a burned-out car in Butte County along with his best friend, 15-year-old Roland Lowe and Lowe's mother, Colleen.
Investigators arrested 72-year-old Don Clark for murder after they discovered gunshot wounds in the victims' bodies.
"My baby Richard and Roland and Roland's mother didn't deserve this," said Felishia Moore, Jones' mother.
There is no peace of healing for Felishia -- not after losing her boy, and not after waiting what seemed like forever to bury him.
"This has been a living hell," she said on Friday. "I just now today, about five minutes ago, got my baby's remain's back. I've been waiting since June 13 for him.
Jones' family says as the months dragged on, they couldn't get a clear answer when they could claim his remains.
"One person told us it would be three weeks, then the Victims of Crime people told us it would be two weeks, then we contacted the detectives and they said not this week," said Jones' sister, Jackie Carmichael.
A Butte County Sheriff's Deputy tells CBS13 the delay was because of the investigation into the triple homicide. Jones' remains were kept at a funeral home in Oroville that's also part of the Butte County Coroner's Office.
At one point the funeral home mistakenly charged Moore $3,000 to store Jones' remains. The sheriff's department has since corrected that and is handling the cost.
The remains were then sent to Chico State for forensic processing to gather as much evidence as possible and determine a cause of death.
Three months and a week later, Moore is now bringing her son home. She's overcome with the raw pain of having her son taken away, and fury toward the man accused of the crime.
"I just hope the man who did it—he's in jail. I hope he rots in hell. I hope you rot in hell, Don. I hope you and your family suffer just like me and my kids," said Moore.
Jones will be laid to rest on Oct. 13—four months to the day of his murder.
