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Mom Of Woman Found Dead In Car Months After Vanishing Believes Foul Play Was Involved, Contrary To Authorities
Elaine Gordon believes her daughter Natalie Jones was abducted back in July, but Heard County Sheriff Ross Henry has said there is no evidence to suggest anything sinister led to her death.
The mother of a Georgia woman who was found dead inside her car months after vanishing believes that she was abducted, while police have downplayed the notion that foul play was involved.
Natalie Jones, 27, disappeared over the Fourth of July weekend after attending a party with friends in Jackson's Gap, Alabama. She was last seen getting into her hot pink 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier to drive back home to Georgia. That car was found in a wooded area off an intersection in Heard County, Georgia on Tuesday with a body inside, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced. The body was positively identified as Jones and an autopsy is pending, the Newnan Times-Herald reports
While Heard County Sheriff Ross Henry told local outlet the Newnan Times-Herald last week that there are no signs of foul play, Jones’ mother Elaine Gordon appears adamant that something isn't right.
Gordon told WSB-TV in Atlanta that Jones, the mother of two boys, had been in a contentious custody battle at the time of her disappearance. Gordon told the outlet that she thinks her daughter was abducted.
Henry noted last week that he thinks the car, and Jones' body, were likely in the wooded area since the day she vanished. Gordon doesn’t believe that either.
“I know we had 10 cars out and every one of them passed that spot where her car was found,” Gordon told WSB-TV.
Henry, however, said the car had been hidden in brush that was seven to eight feet in height.
"There were bushes grown up through the tires, through the bumper," he told the Newnan Times-Herald. "The car has clearly been there for a long period of time."
Gordon told reporters last week that she hopes that anyone responsible for her daughter’s death is held accountable.
"God, please get the people so they can serve their justice,” she said, according to the Valley Times-News. “My baby can't walk on this earth again. I'd appreciate it if they couldn't walk on it either.”
No official suspects have been named in Jones' disappearance. Her former boyfriend, Jonathan Lawrence, had been named as a person of interest last month, FOX 11 reported at the time, but he was wearing an ankle monitor after being released on a drug charge when Jones went missing. They broke up about six months before she vanished.
Lawrence has never been charged in connection with Jones’ disappearance, but, separately, he has been accused of hiring a hitman to kill a local deputy from behind bars, the Associated Press reported last month. He has been charged with felony criminal attempted murder and threatening a witness in connection with that case.
Jones had texted a friend the night of her disappearance claiming that she “made it” but she never appeared at home.
Gordon told WSB-TV that she "lost it" when her daughter was found.
“I started screaming," she said. "I started hitting the mattress. I put a hole in the wall.”
