Ohio teen Kaitlyn Coones became involved with 30-year-old Jonathon Jones while in state care. Contact continued after his arrest for sexual offenses, ending in the April 2023 killing of his mother, Nicole Jones, and a flight toward Mexico.
Growing up in Ohio
Kaitlyn Coones was born on January 21, 2006. She spent her childhood moving through multiple placements in Ohio’s foster care system after being removed from her biological parents’ custody due to severe abuse. Her living situation changed often and she was frequently described as having serious behavioral problems, including anger and fights with other children in care. Those issues contributed to repeated removals from foster homes and further moves across the state.
By age 12, Coones’s mental health problems had intensified. She engaged in self-harm and developed an eating disorder. Her weight changed sharply over short periods and she went through cycles of restricting food and returning to eating. During one episode, she stopped eating and drinking for five days and required hospitalization for medical attention.
As her condition continued, she began running away from placements. Public missing-person notices appeared multiple times, including reports in 2020 and additional notices the following year. One appeal described her leaving a home in Canton, Ohio, during overnight hours, with her hair dyed black and wearing pajama pants with police-themed markings. These incidents reflected an ongoing pattern of leaving supervised settings without permission.
In 2020, Coones entered a treatment program called the Emily Program as an inpatient. She said staff were abusive and she left the facility without authorization. That decision led directly to the first contact with Jonathon Jones, an adult man who would become central to later events.
Meeting Jonathon Jones
Jonathon Jones was 30 years old when he met Coones. He grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and had a reputation for being quiet and well-mannered. At 18, he joined the military and served in Afghanistan. During that period, he experienced combat-related trauma and sustained a serious head injury. After leaving the military at 22, he struggled with severe PTSD, depression, and instability in daily life.
Jones married a woman from Kansas and had two children. The marriage later ended in divorce and he saw his children less over time. He had difficulty keeping steady employment and eventually returned to Toledo, where he moved in with his mother, Nicole Jones.
Coones met Jones while she was running away from the Emily Program in 2020. As she left the facility, she encountered him on the road. They spoke, exchanged phone numbers, and began communicating regularly. The contact developed into a relationship that they referred to as boyfriend and girlfriend despite Coones being 14 at the time.
Jones began buying gifts and taking her to places she enjoyed. He also started helping her leave supervised care without permission. Coones would sneak out at night, and Jones would transport her to motels. The relationship became sexual during these meetings, which involved illegal sexual conduct because of her age.
The pair continued meeting this way for more than a year. By the time Coones reached 15, the relationship shifted further, with Coones later describing escalating pressure and control. Their ongoing contact continued even as her living arrangements changed under state supervision.
Escalation and exploitation
As Coones grew older, she later described a change in the sexual dynamic. She said she no longer wanted sexual contact, but Jones pressured her to continue. Coones said he used emotional manipulation, including threatening suicide if she refused. She also said he coerced her into allowing nude photographs to be taken.
Jones kept sexual images and videos of Coones on his phone, including material created when she was 15. He sold this content online for profit, including on the dark web. The conduct involved creating and distributing illegal sexual images of a minor.
Coones described increasing violence during sexual encounters. She said Jones hit and spanked her and became more aggressive. She also said he gave her alcohol to intoxicate her. She reported that he forced sexual contact even when she said no and that he assaulted her in motel rooms, including incidents when she was asleep.
During this period, Coones remained in systems of care, including foster placements and later structured medical or rehabilitation settings. Her repeated running away continued, and Jones’s involvement supported those absences by providing transportation and lodging.
The relationship lasted into 2022. By then, Coones was older but still under state supervision, and Jones’s conduct increasingly attracted law enforcement attention. The situation reached a breaking point in October 2022, when Coones disappeared again from a secure setting and police located her with Jones at a motel.
October 2022 police find them
In October 2022, Coones was living in a medical facility tied to her mental health care and rehabilitation, and she did not have permission to leave. Jones drove to the facility, removed her without authorization, and took her to a Super 8 motel. Coones was reported missing, and police tracked the pair to the motel.
Officers found Coones outside the hotel, appearing intoxicated. She attempted to give a false name and age, but police identified her. Jones was arrested. Investigators searched his phone and found numerous nude images and videos of Coones. The investigation also established that Jones was selling the images and videos online for profit.
Jones faced charges that included illegal sexual conduct involving a minor, distributing obscene material involving a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a child, interfering with custody, and human trafficking connected to removing Coones from a secure facility and transporting her across the state. He was released on bail and returned to living with his mother, Nicole Jones. He later pleaded guilty and was scheduled for sentencing in May 2023. As a bail condition, he wore a GPS ankle monitor and was barred from seeing Coones.
Despite the restriction, Coones continued going to Jones’s home. Coones gave conflicting descriptions of Nicole Jones’s response, ranging from allowing some contact to forcing them out of the home.
The ultimatum
In February 2023, Coones was involved in a serious car crash while driving and using drugs. The crash caused a severe head injury. She was hospitalized, placed in a coma, required stitches, and received a blood transfusion. Her recovery took time, and she remained in contact with Jones throughout her hospitalization.
After recovering, Coones resumed contact with Jones in person, continuing visits despite the court restriction. During this period, she focused her hostility on Nicole Jones. Coones told Jones that his mother was the main obstacle to their relationship and pressed him to accept that belief. She also accused Nicole Jones of being overly protective and behaving inappropriately toward her son, describing her as touchy and flirtatious. Jones appeared to accept parts of those claims in conversations with Coones.
By April 2023, Coones was living in a group home run by child services and remained in the state’s custody. She left the group home by climbing out of a window and went directly to Jones’s residence. Coones hid in Jones’s bedroom for three days without Nicole Jones’s knowledge. During that time, Coones continued discussing Nicole Jones as a barrier and pressed Jones to remove her from their lives.
On April 19, 2023, Coones issued an ultimatum: Jones had five hours to kill his mother so the couple could stay together. They argued for hours. After Jones refused, Coones extended the deadline by one hour and continued pressing him. When he still did not act, Coones left the bedroom and moved through the home toward Nicole Jones.
The killing and disposal
Coones went outside, obtained a rock from the yard, and returned to the house. She entered the kitchen, where Nicole Jones was looking into the refrigerator. Coones struck her from behind, hitting her in the head repeatedly. Nicole Jones fell to the floor. Coones then strangled her until she died. During the attack, Jonathon Jones remained in the adjoining living room, heard what was happening, and did not intervene.
After the killing, Jones went outside and smoked a cigarette. Coones approached him and spoke to him, and the pair began planning how to remove evidence and leave. They drove to a local store and purchased a tarp and trash bags, a trip captured on surveillance video. They returned to the house, wrapped Nicole Jones’s body in the tarp, and placed it in the trunk of her own car.
They drove the car to a nearby apartment complex and put the wrapped body into a communal dumpster. Afterward, they went back to the house and took Nicole Jones’s belongings, including a gun, jewelry, a checkbook, and multiple identification items. They withdrew money from her bank account and fled in her vehicle.
While traveling, Coones recorded videos of herself in the car, smiling and holding the gun. Jones remained largely silent. He then cut off his GPS ankle monitor and threw it from the vehicle. The pair drove south toward the Mexico border and remained on the run for about two weeks while Nicole Jones had not yet been reported missing or identified as a homicide victim.
Arrest and sentencing
After about two weeks, Coones contacted a caregiver connected to her placement and wrote that she had committed two murders. The message prompted concern because Coones had left state custody without permission and Jones had failed to appear for his scheduled sentencing hearing. Law enforcement began searching for them.
On May 5, 2023, police went to the Toledo home where Jones had been living. No one was there, and Nicole Jones was missing. Authorities entered her as a missing person. The search intensified as investigators attempted to locate Coones and Jones and determine what had happened.
On May 8, 2023, the pair were spotted near the Mexico border and arrested. Jones declined to provide a statement. Coones was interviewed by detectives for more than two hours and confessed in detail. She described striking Nicole Jones with a rock, strangling her, and disposing of the body. She also described the purchases used to wrap the body and the steps taken to remove property and money.
Investigators attempted to recover Nicole Jones’s remains. By that time, the dumpster contents had been taken to a landfill, and the body was not located. Nicole Jones’s remains have not been found.
Coones and Jones were each charged with aggravated murder. Coones was tried as an adult despite being 17 at the time of the killing. Both pleaded guilty and received life sentences, with eligibility for parole after serving a minimum of 25 years.
