Teen gave boyfriend five hours to kill his mum, or she would

Kaitlyn Coones gave an ultimatum that ended in murder

- GAIL SHORTLAND

Kaitlyn Coones had a history of running away from the children's homes she was I placed in, but when she went missing in April 2020, the authorities were concerned she may have been kidnapped.

Coones, 17, had been staying at a children's home in Canton, Ohio when she disappeared. She had an older boyfriend, Jonathon Jones, 33, and the courts had ordered him to stay away from her.

But Coones had managed to sneak out at night to meet Jones at a local restaurant so they could be together.

Jones drove them to his mum's home in Sylvania Township, a suburb of Toledo. Jones' mum, Nicole, 53, disapproved of the relationship, so Coones crawled in through a window and hid in his bedroom, knowing that if the police found out she was there, Jones would be in serious trouble.

Just a month earlier, Jones had been convicted for charges relating to his relationship with Coones, which started when she was just 15. He pleaded guilty to child endangerment and pandering obscene material after having sex with Coones and taking pictures of her when she was underage and in the custody of social services. Jones was ordered to wear a GPS tracking device before his upcoming sentencing and banned from seeing Coones. They had defied the court order.

When the children's home reported Coones missing, the authorities were very concerned for her safety. Jones was an older man, facing charges for his inappropriate relationship with a minor. Had he forced Coones to run away with him? Had he abducted her? Soon after, a member of staff at the home received a message, allegedly from Coones. It said that she had "killed two people" and was on the run. It also said one of the victims was Jones' mum.

The police went to Nicole's home, but there was no trace of Coones or Jones. And Nicole was missing. In the kitchen, there were signs that someone had tried to clean up blood on the floor and under the fridge.