Turns out the alleged shooting of Australian athlete Chris Lane wasn’t the first time “bored” teen Michael Jones stirred up some trouble.
Jones, 17, has been linked to a string of armed robberies allegedly committed with his pregnant girlfriend.
According to MailOnline:
Detective John Byers told MailOnline that investigators recognized Jones’ Ford Focus from surveillance footage and that triggered their search for the killers of the Australian baseball player.
While investigating three different armed robberies in March of this year, Byers said that the police “kept seeing his vehicle, we got to know his vehicle.”
“(It was) the Ford Focus used in the drive-by shooting. The vehicle was known to us. That was one thing that helped identifying the vehicle used in the killing of Mr Lane,” he told MailOnline.
There were three armed robberies in the surrounding area within days of each other this past March, and that is when Jones’ face and car became familiar to investigators.
“Whenever we executed a search warrant on a house where the armed robbers lived, he showed up when we were at the front door. They contacted him, because he showed up at a parking lot that was real close to the house, with his girlfriend— and she’s pregnant with his child,” Detective Byers said.
“As we were compiling everything on the armed robberies and arresting those responsible, his name kept coming up. We pulled him in two maybe three times, interviewed him and his girlfriend too.”
The girlfriend has not been identified, but she did appear in court on Tuesday before the hearing for Jones and the two other teenagers who are connected with Lane’s death. Sources say she sat near Jones’ relatives and broke down in tears before he even entered the room.
Jones now faces a charge of accessory to first-degree murder and using a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest in this case.
SOURCE: Daily Mail/MailOnline
