Inset top: Jadun M. Byrd (KSDK). Inset bottom: Jonathon Xavier Jones (St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department). Background: Crime scene memorial (YouTube/KSDK).Â
A 21-year-old Missouri man may spend the rest of his days behind bars for killing a teenager — shooting a 19-year-old victim while he was on a FaceTime call with his mother.
Circuit Judge Craig K. Higgins on Friday sentenced Jonathon Xavier Jones to life in a state correctional facility with the chance for parole over the 2022 slaying of 19-year-old Jadun M. Byrd.
Higgins handed down the sentence after Jones reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder. In exchange for his plea, the state dropped additional charges of armed criminal action and unlawful use of weapons, court records show.
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As previously reported by Law&Crime, the shooting happened on March 2, 2022, in the 2400 block of Whittier Street in St. Louis’ The Ville neighborhood. Police responded to a report of gunfire and found Byrd suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to a news release from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, Byrd had taken a Lyft to meet his mother at work and “was on FaceTime with her when he was murdered.” His mother, Leslie Byrd, heard the gunfire and “watched her son fall to the ground during the call.”
An eyewitness told investigators that a white Dodge Journey drove toward Byrd as he was walking through a parking lot. Someone rolled down the vehicle’s driver’s-side window and fired multiple shots at Byrd.
Surveillance footage showed the Dodge Journey circling the area where Byrd lived and following his Lyft to the scene of the murder. Additional footage showed Jones getting into the Journey about 30 minutes before the murder and returning in it about 30 minutes afterward.
Jones’ fingerprints were recovered from the driver’s side of the vehicle. A subsequent search of the residence where Jones was located turned up multiple firearms, one of which was later linked to the murder through forensic testing, prosecutors said.
Investigators also determined that Jones placed his phone in airplane mode shortly before the shooting and took it out of airplane mode shortly afterward.
Two people who were inside the Dodge Journey during the shooting identified Jones as the driver and told investigators that he was one of the people who opened fire on Byrd.
Jones was 17 when Byrd was killed, and the case was initially brought in juvenile court. However, the defendant was certified to stand trial as an adult on July 8, 2024.
At the time of Byrd’s murder, Jones was on the run after escaping from a juvenile detention center where he had been held in connection with a separate homicide case. Jones has since been convicted of second-degree murder in that case.
Byrd’s mother previously described the moments after her son’s shooting, telling police she could see only his face after he fell.
“‘They just shot that boy up,'” she recalled hearing someone say after the shooting. “And then somebody accidentally kicked the phone and I seen his head just roll and his hands curled up.”
“They didn’t even rob him,” she added. “They didn’t take anything from him. They just pulled up and shot and drove off.”
Now, more than four years after Byrd’s death, Jones could spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Jadun Byrd was 19 years old and had his entire life ahead of him. His family will carry the pain of losing him for the rest of their lives,” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said in a statement. “Our office will aggressively prosecute those who commit violent crimes and continue working to protect the people of St. Louis from those who endanger our communities.”
The post ‘Watched her son fall to the ground’: Man who murdered teen during FaceTime call with his mom is sentenced first appeared on Law & Crime.
