She killed her roommate and tried to ‘cover it up’ with a house fire, sheriff says
Kristen Jones and her fiance had just called off their engagement before she was arrested and booked into jail for what she allegedly did to their other roommate, a sheriff’s office investigator said in a press conference.
“(Jones) was extremely upset over this being the end of their relationship and that’s where (her ex-fiance) felt this had started,” Oklahoma County Sheriff investigator Paul Harmon said in the press conference recorded by The Oklahoman.
Jones, 21, found text messages between her ex-fiance and their roommate Miranda Pederson, according to an arrest warrant obtained by KFOR. Jones and her ex had been together for about two years, Harmon said in the press conference.
After Jones saw the messages, the two women got into a fight — then Jones stabbed Pederson in the hand and “went to the bedroom ... retrieved a gun and shot Pederson in the back of the head,” KFOR reported from the warrant.
Following the shooting, Jones’ mom called investigators and said she was on the other line with her daughter, News9 reported, and investigators tapped into the call. In the call, Jones talked “about having killed someone and she wanted to kill herself,” the station reported.
The Oklahoman reported that before Jones was arrested, she and her ex, Bryson Harrington, also talked on the phone about the texts she found. And in a phone call, Jones also said she “tried to cover it up because she got scared,” according to KFOR.
To “cover it up,” investigators believe Jones set their house on fire, authorities said in the press conference.
The house fire was discovered by the Hickory Hills fire chief who just happened to see the smoke at about 9:45 a.m. Monday, sheriff spokesman Mark Opgrande said in the recorded press conference.
While firefighters were working to put out the fire, they found a body inside the home, according to a tweeted press release from the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office.
The fire department called in the sheriff’s office, the release states, and investigators learned that the suspect of both the fire and homicide was on her way to Texas.
Opgrande said in the press conference that they called Texas deputies, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office arrested her without incident during a traffic stop. In body cam footage obtained by The Oklahoman, Jones is seen coming out of her SUV with her hands up while three dogs also jump out of the car. She was then handcuffed and arrested.
The traffic stop and arrest occurred in Texas at about 12:30 p.m. — that’s about three hours after firefighters responded to her home — according to the release.
In an interview with investigators, Jones confessed to killing her roommate and starting a fire, News9 reported.
A booking report from the Oklahoma County Jail shows that Jones has been charged with arson in the first degree, desecrating a human corpse and murder in the first degree.