Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Police: Dad details boy’s death, says he dumped body in the desert

Updated Friday, April 28, 2017 | 10 p.m.

Latoya Williams-Miley

Latoya Williams-Miley

Paul Darell Jones

Paul Darell Jones

A father told detectives he dumped his 13-year-old son’s body in the desert after he slapped the boy, who hit his head on the floor and later died, according to a Metro Police arrest report.

Paul Darell Jones, 33, said that after the incident sometime in February, he wrapped Aaron Jones’ body in a blanket, took it into the desert behind their apartment and covered it with plastic and rocks, according to the report.

Jones, who already was being held at the Clark County Detention Center in an unrelated child-abuse case, was booked Thursday on a count of murder, police said.

His girlfriend, Latoya Williams-Miley, 33, was arrested later Thursday and also was being held at the jail on a count of murder, Metro announced today. Police said she was arrested “based on additional facts learned during the investigation” but did not provide any details.

According to the arrest report, a sibling of the boy told a Clark County Child Protective Services investigator that her father would punish him by making him stand against a wall with his hands up, encouraging others to throw things at the boy and not letting him protect himself. He was able to put his hands down, but only if he put one foot up.

Jones told detectives that the day Aaron died he’d slapped him during an argument about candy, according to the report. The boy fell and hit his head.

“Aaron’s eyes were still open but he was not completely there,” Jones told detectives in the report. That’s when he said he took the boy to the bathroom and sprayed him with water “to wake him up.”

When he didn’t “come completely back,” Jones dressed the boy with a dry shirt and shorts and lay him on the living room floor, police said. The father claimed his son was still breathing so he put a blanket on top of him.

After an unknown amount of time when Jones checked on him, Aaron was no longer breathing and he carried him into a desert area, police said.

Aaron Jones lived in a single-room apartment with 12 other children not far from where his body was found, police said.

Jones told detectives that he’d gained custody of Aaron and his sister last summer and moved them into an east valley apartment with his other 11 children, police said. In November, they all moved to the single bedroom long-term hotel room where Aaron was killed.

Aaron was reported missing April 14, though family members had not seen him since December, police said. Relatives on Tuesday found a body in a desert lot in the 3600 block of Boulder Highway.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office today confirmed the body was that of Aaron Jones. The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, officials said.

In a jailhouse interview on Wednesday, Paul Jones said his son ran away from home a “couple of months ago” and that he had nothing to do with his disappearance. He said he didn’t report it because he had a warrant out for his arrest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.