00:00:00
foreign [Music] this is a photo of 26 year old Diana duvet of Vero Beach I don't know where
00:00:27
she is police describe her as 5 3 120 pounds brown hair and I'm looking for her but I don't know she was last seen
00:00:37
leaving the what a Tavern restaurant around 1am Friday morning with a man they say is her boyfriend 32 year old
00:00:43
Michael David Jones neither has been heard from since Harrelson say I'm help with this case
00:00:55
more of this than just a missing person's case we're in a million different directions
00:01:00
trying to find her and him his phone has been turned off her phone is now turned
00:01:05
off Diana is out with some friends they described her as enjoying herself but she was texting a lot they just felt
00:01:16
like it was a little out of the ordinary she left her friends and then went and met up with Mike Jones at another
00:01:21
establishment it's called what a Tavern they appeared to be having a good time as in having quite a few drinks at one
00:01:28
point it appeared as though she was crying and visibly upset but then kind of not and when they were leaving the
00:01:35
bar staff said are you guys okay to get home Mike said I'm gonna drive her home don't worry about it what time was that
00:01:41
it was around 1 30 A.M [Music] I didn't wait for her that night [Music] when I got up in the morning there is
00:01:56
text message there Mom I'm not coming home tonight I just have Diana where you at call me I went
00:02:04
to work around 11 30 it just kind of shocked went through me that wait a second she
00:02:14
didn't call me she was 26 years old and she would call me every day it set me off immediately
00:02:24
I was trying to tell everybody who would listen if she's not calling me it's because she can't
00:02:37
and then we begin to learn about Michael Jones what we learned was he told many of his
00:02:43
workmates I'm not feeling that well I'm going to be gone for a couple of days I've got some things I got to take care
00:02:47
of I thought that they were out of town for a wedding I first met Mike Jones at a networking
00:02:53
luncheon he was a Charming guy Mike and I dated I want to say like two to four months he seemed pretty put together he
00:03:01
was smart he was really funny Mike told me that he was a trust attorney for PNC wealth management he had a lot of
00:03:09
multi-million dollar accounts a lot of people trusted him with a lot of money Mike was very elaborate his stories were
00:03:17
big celebrities involved always knowing people everywhere we went Mike told me that his sister was dating
00:03:25
Jason Aldean and that he was adopted by Ronald Reagan's son I think that he probably had stories
00:03:35
about who he was depending on who he was talking to who he really is to this day
00:03:41
I'm not sure we know just come home everybody love you everybody misses you terribly
00:03:50
all I cared about find her where's my daughter where is Diana [Music] foreign [Music]
00:04:49
we've interviewed all of these people we've run down all the leads that we had we're in a million different directions
00:04:55
[Music] on Saturday June 21st 2014 Lieutenant Matt Harrelson and Sergeant Brad Metz
00:05:03
with the Vero Beach Police Department we're not having much luck trying to find out what could have happened to
00:05:09
Diana duvet and Mike Jones investigators went to Jones's apartment but no one was answering the door we did
00:05:18
get a search warrant that day to get into Michael Jones's Department to try to collect physical evidence or find
00:05:23
Diana and hopefully it'd be you know next to nothing when the investigators returned with a warrant they were
00:05:29
surprised to discover Lena and Bill Andrews Diana's mother and stepfather sitting outside in their car is that
00:05:38
unusual oh my gosh that's crazy Lena is sitting at the house hoping for a sighting of her daughter she's just
00:05:45
beside herself you know she's crying she's upset she wants to go physically kick the door in before investigators
00:05:52
went inside they interviewed Lena she told them that the last communication she had from her daughter was that text
00:06:00
Diana sent in the early hours the previous day at 1 45 am I won't be home it was in
00:06:09
Russian the language they spoke with each other so Lena believed it had to be from her daughter
00:06:17
as the hours passed on Friday with no sign of Diana she grew increasingly desperate
00:06:25
you call Michael Jones I did call Michael Jones yes he was like oh don't worry she's with me
00:06:31
everything's okay oh he said that yes so I was like oh my God Mike you guys killing me I'm I'm worried sick
00:06:42
I need to talk to her I want to hear her voice I told him give her a phone all of a sudden oh she is sleeping well
00:06:52
wake up because I have to talk to her all of a sudden another excuse she's at my place but not there right now I told
00:07:02
them you go home you wake her up call me back in 30 minutes but Jones never called Lena back and she
00:07:12
never heard from him again she was my world [Music] Diana was born in Moldova a small
00:07:33
country in Eastern Europe Diana emigrated to America when she was 13 to join her mother Lena who had married
00:07:41
Bill an American a girl that didn't speak English at all within two months she was in the regular school class in a
00:07:51
few years you couldn't even guess that she's not American in 2011 Diana received her Nursing
00:08:00
degree at the time she disappeared Diana worked with cancer patients at the Sebastian
00:08:07
River Medical Center she really really cared about her patience about patients families
00:08:16
which is highly intelligent always motivated Chelsea demaio was Diana's best friend and former roommate she's
00:08:25
very easy going just fun to be around in the summer of 2013 Chelsea says Diana met Jones at a bar in Vero Beach did she
00:08:36
seem smitten from the start no no no she never had an initial oh wow Mike Jones it seemed more like he definitely
00:08:47
had his sights set on her and she kind of eventually came around Lena and Bill say they didn't know much
00:08:56
about Jones except that he worked for PNC Bank in wealth management and had gone to law school he was extremely
00:09:04
polite now he's dressed well spoken seems like the ideal boyfriend his apartment she seemed happy so we
00:09:16
were okay with it Chelsea says Diana and Jones quickly became Inseparable you would never see her without him and she
00:09:27
had never done that in relationships before over time Chelsea says she became concerned there was a time where we were
00:09:35
getting lunch I remember she wanted to go somewhere where Mike wasn't going to see her or run into her or see her car
00:09:45
it was almost as if she would have been in trouble getting lunch with me Chelsea says before she could sit down
00:09:52
and have a serious talk with her friend Diana and Jones had a domestic dispute that would officially end their
00:09:59
relationship it was April 30th 2014 just two months before Diana would disappear dear [ __ ]
00:10:08
please yeah hey I think I got a domestic for you around the next door neighbor and his girlfriend song Went again on
00:10:15
Twitter Mike Jones's neighbor made this 911 for about an hour just been yelling and
00:10:22
screaming or yeah it just sounds like you're trying to dominate the crap out of her so it's just been verbal right
00:10:29
well I can't even hear any slaps or anything but I'll tell you it's not good officers responded knocked on the door
00:10:37
made contact with with both Diana and Mike Jones according to the police incident report Jones told them that the
00:10:45
noise was from rough sex Diana told police everything was fine but she asked him to wait for her as she grabbed her
00:10:54
things and left she called me in tears leaving his apartment I told her to just come
00:11:03
straight to where I was and she did and she was still in her pajamas hysterical had you ever seen her like that before
00:11:10
that upset never never she was explaining that he was screaming at her that it had been going
00:11:17
on for what felt like hours and he just wasn't letting up and if he finally got to the point where he had
00:11:24
put his hands around her neck and started strangling her I could clearly see that there were marks on her neck so
00:11:31
Chelsea says she took these photos which showed what appears to be hand marks on
00:11:36
Diana's neck I need to document this I need to protect her but despite Chelsea's efforts to get her to make a
00:11:42
formal report Diana chose not to press charges she just wanted to move her things out and remove herself from the
00:11:51
situation and that's what we did Diana moved back in with her parents and did not tell them that Jones had tried to
00:11:59
strangle her I think she was just trying to protect me so I wouldn't worry and she thought that she handled it in her
00:12:07
mind it was over but Lena says Jones continued to pursue Diana she would tell me he text me looks
00:12:17
like he doesn't understand that I broke up with him now with a search warrant almost 48
00:12:24
hours after Diana was last seen with Mike Jones investigators entered his apartment
00:12:32
you can see the sheer fair and panic and Lena's eyes I said lean I promise you I'm gonna get your daughter back for you
00:12:38
one way or another that I was walking back and forth in the front of this apartment neighbors people
00:12:45
that I don't know all coming out this girl just came and hugged me and said oh everything's gonna be okay
00:12:56
and I looked at her and said no it won't oh we want to find Diana we want to reunite
00:13:19
her with her parents we want to make sure she's okay as detectives searched Mike Jones's apartment they were hopeful
00:13:25
they would find Diana duvet but they were met with disappointment we didn't find a lot but we didn't find
00:13:33
any belongings that we felt were Diana's we didn't find any sign of her but they
00:13:39
were not discouraged Sergeant Metz was motivated by that promise he made to Diana's mother Lena that he would find
00:13:47
her daughter what really drove me to keep pushing forward was a mother begging you
00:13:54
please find my daughter for me they knew that in order to find Diana they needed to find Mike Jones
00:14:02
investigators grew concerned when they learned that about 12 hours after Jones was last seen with Diana at the what a
00:14:10
Tavern bar he was captured on surveillance footage visiting a PNC Bank in Vero Beach when he went to the PNC
00:14:18
Bank he withdrew 2 500 in cash and then told many of his workmates he said you know I'm not feeling that well I'm going
00:14:24
to be gone for a couple of days I've got some things I got to take care of prior to moving to Vero Beach he had
00:14:36
been charged with aggravated stalking for threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend near Fort Lauderdale in 2012. 911 what
00:14:45
is your emergency this is the 9-1-1 call from that incident good night ex-boyfriend just called me and told me
00:14:54
that he has practice done and then as soon as I walk outside they're going to go off on my head what
00:15:00
happened my ex-boyfriend threatened to kill himself tonight and then when I told him that we were not
00:15:06
getting back together he told me he would kill me Anthony I see we've met angry before
00:15:12
he pleaded no contest and as part of a plea deal Jones was given five years probation in lieu of jail time he was
00:15:21
required to stay in the Vero Beach area and could be arrested if he left without
00:15:26
getting permission from his probation officer I spoke to the probation officer who told us if we come in contact with
00:15:32
him that's probable cause we can't arrest him for a probation violation at minimum at that point
00:15:40
all of a sudden doubt that that he's convicted Fallon that he is on probation Lena says she
00:15:49
and Bill were blindsided by the news it's something that was extremely unexpected and nobody knew about it
00:15:58
investigators continued to work the case but were running out of leads so they turned their attention to analyzing cell
00:16:07
phone tower pings from Diana and Jones's phones we had to kind of like overlay two separate maps to be able to see
00:16:14
where she may have been and where he was Prior I was getting pretty tired and something told me just give it a couple
00:16:23
more minutes and this is why I would say that divine intervention was definitely a play here
00:16:28
within a few minutes I found something that was really odd Sergeant Metz noticed there was only one ping from
00:16:35
Jones's phone off a cell tower located in the Fort Pierce area approximately 25 minutes from Vero Beach so Mets had
00:16:45
dispatched alert local authorities there to be on the lookout for Jones's gold Honda and Diana's black Nissan I'm on my
00:16:54
way home getting bad and then my phone rings Fort Pierce PD had located Mike Jones car
00:17:02
Jones's gold Honda was located in the parking lot of a Hampton Inn hotel surveillance footage showed that Jones
00:17:09
had checked into the hotel almost 24 hours after Diana went missing he appeared to be alone according to the
00:17:17
front desk staff Jones paid in cash for two nights and instructed them not to tell anyone he was there and not to
00:17:26
transfer any calls to his room you don't know what you're going to find when you get in that room you know your
00:17:32
heart's racing you've been going for two days straight and now you're this close
00:17:36
from getting who you believe is a possible suspect and also hopefully finding Diana around 11 30 PM using a
00:17:44
key card given to them by the front desk Mets and Harrelson entered Jones's hotel
00:17:49
room he seemed surprised he was surprised to see us absolutely he was sitting on one of the double beds with
00:17:56
like a v-neck t-shirt on and some shorts and smoking a cigarette and he was talking on a phone on a cell phone it
00:18:03
was a burner phone a phone that is difficult for police to trace hi Mike um he had a pretty good reason why we're
00:18:10
here I'm sure this is audio of Sergeant Metz speaking to Jones in his hotel room
00:18:16
I'll tell you unequivly I don't know where she is why won't he just give me the information I'm looking for your
00:18:25
girlfriend's missing this is somebody that you professed that you loved and profess that you cared about you should
00:18:30
be helping law enforcement try to find her I said if you're not willing to give us any information I said you're going
00:18:35
to jail right now for the violation of probation Harrelson were relieved to place Jones
00:18:42
behind bars but they still had no idea where Diana was or her car you go from very high because you found him and
00:18:52
you're bursting in the room to like here we are back again investigators decided to trace the
00:19:00
purchase of that burner phone Jones had been using and learned that he bought it
00:19:04
at a Walmart located about an hour north from the Hampton Inn when they pulled their surveillance footage from the
00:19:11
Walmart they made a startling Discovery it's a little grainy but it appeared to be Diana's car in this surveillance
00:19:19
footage from the morning after Diana went missing her Nissan entered the Walmart parking lot parked then you see
00:19:27
what appeared to be Mike Jones wearing a red baseball hat walk into the store buy
00:19:33
the burner phone and then walk out there was no sign of Diana but despite buying the burner phone
00:19:42
Jones occasionally still turned on his primary phone he would turn it on and then use it for something and then turn
00:19:49
it back off let me go through these pings one last time I said maybe I'm missing something here I found one I
00:19:55
mean maybe we can catch lightning in a bottle twice so Mets and Harrelson analyze Mike Jones's primary cell phone
00:20:01
paints one more time looking for any pings in and around the area of the Walmart he and I are kind of looking at
00:20:10
together I'm like well this one's strange he goes well what do you mean what's he doing up in Melbourne it
00:20:15
appeared that Jones had picked up a call in the Melbourne area almost one hour north of Vero Beach so local police were
00:20:22
alerted and asked to search that area for Diana's car and just 30 minutes later detectives received a call they
00:20:30
had been desperately waiting for they had found her vehicle three days after Diana had gone missing
00:20:38
her car was located in a Publix parking lot in Melbourne Florida we jump in the car we're rocking and rolling
00:20:47
she was crazy crazy [Music] foreign [Music] we're on the Ragged Edge you know we we
00:21:11
haven't slept you know because you're just you're moving it was around 4 30 A.M arrived at a Publix parking lot where
00:21:19
Diana duvet's black Nissan had been discovered Lieutenant Harrelson feared they would
00:21:26
find her body here and I told Brad I said she's in the trunk I said I don't know I said it's just so
00:21:34
cliche it's something like out of a movie it didn't didn't make much sense to me
00:21:38
but when they opened the trunk Lieutenant Harrelson's premonition turned out to be true
00:21:48
there are certain things in this job that you can't unsee you can't unlive you'll never forget
00:21:59
I remember putting my hands on my knees and kind of just putting my head down it was not the way I wanted to find her
00:22:06
and I opened the door and here's chief police in complete uniform the saddest thing in
00:22:13
my life was what seeing him come out the driveway and he told me to find her not her to
00:22:23
lose her like this it's undescribable as painful as it was this was no longer a missing person's case but a homicide
00:22:33
an autopsy would later reveal Diana had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and had been strangled to death
00:22:42
investigators believed they had a strong case connecting Jones to the parking lot
00:22:48
where Diana was found but something was gnawing at them how did Mike Jones leave
00:22:54
the area without a car so we just started cold calling some of these taxi agencies and I said hey did you get a
00:23:01
fair for the Vero in the last couple of days and man we hit one and I was like wow you know like that's just like that
00:23:07
doesn't happen every day so we got lucky on that one around 8 A.M after Jones dropped off Diana's car a man called for
00:23:15
a taxi down the street I showed up and there was a guy outside with a red hoodie on
00:23:23
and um he got in the passenger side of the vehicle during the hour-long ride they
00:23:31
've chatted I asked him questions like what brought you down here and he said oh well I I came here with a
00:23:39
friend of mine you know um and so then I asked him I said um how come you didn't get a ride back with
00:23:46
your friend to Vero Beach and we still go they got into an argument and she's very pissed with her
00:23:59
Vero Beach it was Mike Jones's apartment the kicker was he was able to pick him out of a lineup too which really helped
00:24:08
our case and just two days after they found Diana's body they had enough evidence to
00:24:15
officially charge Mike Jones with her murder he would plead not guilty he didn't show any emotion he didn't ask
00:24:25
any more questions he just sat there nothing [Music] signed to process a prostate attorney Thomas backadal as
00:24:48
they started digging they soon learned that Mike Jones was no ordinary suspect he doesn't fit the mold of your your
00:24:56
average violent murderer Jones was well educated with a masters and law degree and he was a respected member of the
00:25:06
Vero Beach Community it was shocking that Mike would would have done this I think it blew everybody's mind
00:25:14
Stuart Pierce was friends with Jones Mike Jones was a guy that you wanted to be friends with he was clean cut real
00:25:24
nice guy first met him at a networking luncheon shortly after Jones had moved to Vero
00:25:30
Beach in the summer of 2013. we saw him everywhere that there was to be seen cufflinks and a well-start shirt Jones
00:25:38
was often seen at local charity events here is a guy who was able to work his way into the community here I mean he
00:25:48
was doing charitable activities he actually showed up and walked for the very same domestic violence organization
00:25:54
that I'm a board member for Jones was also active in the bar scene and had made many friends in a short
00:26:02
period of time investigators interviewed some of them on audio tape I would say that he was
00:26:09
ambitious I could trust him with things that I would trust my family with Michael was a genius one of the smartest
00:26:15
people I'd ever you know dealt with and when it came to work Jones thrived at his job in wealth management at PNC Bank
00:26:24
he brought people in who had a lot of money and he had performance reviews emails that went back and forth between
00:26:33
PNC Personnel raving about his job performance and how great he was doing there for Diana was
00:26:45
Michael was on ethics and Leadership qualities he is a big asset for PNC this guy's a master
00:26:53
manipulator this guy was running multi-million dollar accounts for a bank as a convicted felon so he was able to
00:27:02
con a bank we reached out to PNC Bank to ask if they knew Jones had a record and was on
00:27:09
probation for stalking that woman near Fort Lauderdale in 2012. they decline to comment
00:27:16
his friends however had no idea but what they did know about Jones's past is there were a lot of stories I remember
00:27:26
the stories like every time there was a Zinger Ellie Sexton dated Jones shortly before
00:27:32
he started dating Diana Mike told me that his sister was dating Jason Aldean and he told me that he was adopted by
00:27:41
Ronald Reagan's son Mike drove a gold Honda Accord that was probably 10 years old but he told me
00:27:51
that he had a penthouse in Fort Lauderdale that he had a Porsche that he just didn't want to damage well Mike
00:27:57
Jones told me that he was adopted and that he played some minor league baseball but one time hanging out on the beach
00:28:03
and seeing him throw a football made me think that he'd probably never played Minor League Baseball nothing in his
00:28:10
life was the truth who he really is to this day I'm not sure we know prosecutors were certain of one thing
00:28:18
that Mike Jones was a murderer and now as they prepare to go to trial they learned that Diana was one of Mike
00:28:27
Jones's mini victims the only difference is the others got away my family has all
00:28:35
said you know you skipped death [Music] say a woman's name with whom he had a relationship and
00:28:58
there is abuse as prosecutors continue to unearth more details about Mike Jones they say there
00:29:05
was a clear pattern in how he treated his ex-girlfriends he's Prince Charming in the door right but then slowly he'll
00:29:13
begin telling them what to wear what friends to hang out with he's calling incessantly he's showing up at
00:29:20
restaurants he's reading her phone a couple of the women that we talked to he would hold them in place for long
00:29:28
periods of time he was very controlling Ellie Sexton only dated Mike Jones for a
00:29:34
few months but says she witnessed his violent temper Mike never got physical but there were a few times
00:29:43
that he just had some jealousy behaviors I do remember him screaming in my face one time and getting really close to me
00:29:54
and feeling fear and investigators also learned that Mike Jones's stories about his past were flat
00:30:02
out lies he's a pathological liar in a personal essay he wrote for a College admission Jones claimed that he
00:30:10
was born into poverty to uneducated and abusive parents he wrote that he was placed with several Foster families and
00:30:19
eventually was adopted what is the truth about his upbringing what do you think he was spoiled rotten
00:30:26
his his parents bought him motorcycles they put him in private school and it wasn't until his parents told him that
00:30:35
they weren't going to pay for any more education meaning law school that was the point where he broke it off with
00:30:42
them manipulating trying to get what he wanted we reached out to Jones's family but we never heard back from them
00:30:51
and the manipulation continued while Jones attended a graduate law program at the University of Miami according to an
00:30:59
email to his fellow students in 2010 Jones claimed that he was battling prostate pancreas and stomach cancer and
00:31:07
other alleged medical conditions that prohibited him from often attending classes we have no record of any type of
00:31:15
cancer diagnosis in his background or anything like that but despite Mike Jones's dark past of lies and abusing
00:31:22
other women about his abuse abuse Diana and her murder you should be convicting somebody
00:31:30
for the crime that they committed not based upon what they've done in the past and when it was time to go to trial they
00:31:39
had to make an important decision whether to go for the death penalty well that was a tough one we sat down
00:31:47
with Lena and we said listen when we take this step it's a whole different process he
00:31:54
explained that the proceedings could drag on for years and even if one juror did not believe Jones deserved the death
00:32:02
penalty he would be given a life sentence instead I won a death penalty absolutely he lost his right to live
00:32:11
when he killed her when he killed Diana Brian and I agreed with them and thought
00:32:18
that this is the the route we need to take in October of 2019 Mike Jones's trial
00:32:27
finally began in Vero Beach during opening remarks prosecutors told the jury that Mike Jones abused Diana
00:32:36
mentally and physically during their short six-month on and off-again relationship she would talk about her
00:32:44
feelings and the things that he had done and how he would be demeaning and and he
00:32:49
would flip it he would flip the scripts and start blaming her and accusing her and suggesting that it's her fault
00:32:57
what he was doing was gaslighting her to back up their claims of physical abuse prosecutors Call Diana's friend Chelsea
00:33:05
demaio and showed the jury the photos she took after that domestic incident when Jones allegedly strangled Diana
00:33:13
I could clearly see that there were marks on her neck as disturbing as that was back a doll explained that after
00:33:21
that domestic incident Diana had secretly started seeing Jones on and off again this is what happens in domestic
00:33:30
violence people want to know why would she go back and it's because of the control and he had total control over
00:33:37
her prosecutors said no one knows what they talked about in the early hours of Friday June 20th 2014 when they left the
00:33:46
bar together and went to Jones's apartment now they had been drinking that evening and of course that has an
00:33:53
impact on your judgment but back at all thinks Diana was trying to end the relationship for good she was telling
00:34:00
him that night it's over I have no doubt in my mind that this was the end of this
00:34:05
relationship in fact according to Lena Diana had upcoming plans to go out west to visit a friend and when he got wind
00:34:14
to that that was it prosecutors said they believe Jones lost his temper and that's when he beat and strangled her he
00:34:23
had beaten her so badly that he knew at that point in time he could not let her go he knew that if she were to leave the
00:34:31
house that night and been covered in bruises a jig was up for this guy and he couldn't allow that to happen and so we
00:34:38
resorted ultimately to murder the state admitted they didn't know exactly what time the murder took place but said
00:34:45
blood evidence showed that Jones placed Diana's body in the trunk of her car while it was parked in his garage next
00:34:53
to the threshold where the garage door comes down where the concrete meets it we found like two very small droplets of
00:34:59
blood whose were they Diana's when it was the defense's turn to lay out their case they told the jurors that in fact
00:35:06
no one really knew exactly what happened after Jones and Diana left the bar on June 20th they raised the possibility
00:35:15
that Diana's death could have been an accident Jones's defense team declined our request for an interview
00:35:23
they tried to act like that you know he was an upstanding citizen in our community you know he had a solid job
00:35:29
why would he do this to her it was almost insulting sometimes to for them to even try to act like he wasn't the
00:35:37
monster that we knew him to be after the prosecutors felt confident I expected a guilty verdict but I didn't
00:35:48
expect it to happen as quickly as it did how quickly did it come back like 45 minutes that says something that says a
00:35:56
lot that says that somebody finally saw through Michael Jones's but they knew there were many challenges
00:36:05
ahead now the jury would have to decide whether Mike Jones would live or die what did you tell Lena right after the
00:36:14
trial I remember hugging her I specifically remember telling her now the heavy lifting comes be ready
00:36:26
what do you think is the most outlandish lie that Mike Jones told go inside the investigation at 48hours.com
00:36:45
thank you she had so much good in her heart and she knew that nearly a month after the verdict the
00:36:58
same jury that convicted Mike Jones of first-degree murder would now decide whether he would live or die the penalty
00:37:06
phase is everything about the defendant prosecutor bacadal warned Lena that this
00:37:11
sentencing hearing would be difficult to sit through the poor defendant all of the issues
00:37:18
faced by the defendant throughout his life to the absolute and utter exclusion of of her daughter the defense called
00:37:25
medical experts who testified Jones had received multiple blows to his head possibly from doing Motocross as a teen
00:37:32
and he suffered brain damage one expert testified that Jones's frontal lobe which regulates decision-making and
00:37:39
impulse control have been damaged and caused a significant cognitive defect they wanted the jury to believe that he
00:37:47
had this major or minor cognitive deficit the problem is in order to have that particular deficit you can't do
00:37:57
things like balance a checkbook pay rent and here's a guy who went to law school
00:38:01
and managed multi-million dollar accounts when it was time for her Victim Impact
00:38:07
statement Lena surprised everyone and confronted Jones face to face do that was your bare hands
00:38:19
to the person that you supposedly love how can anybody do that how foreign she brought Diana to life in
00:38:32
that courtroom and if we were going to get the death penalty it was going to be on the back of that testimony
00:38:38
it was just a mother's love for her child it's big throughout the entire trial Jones showed
00:38:49
no emotion he absolutely had zero remorse absolutely zero even as his sentence was about to be
00:38:58
read his attorneys they had their their faces in their hands they were leaning on the tables and he just sat there like
00:39:05
statue Mike Jones received a life sentence much to the prosecutor's disappointment for
00:39:14
me it was devastating because we didn't finish the job that uh we had promised Lena and
00:39:22
the family I realized at that moment if I can't get death in this case what case
00:39:28
do you remember how many four how many against yeah I remember I'll never forget it was 11-1 the defense was
00:39:36
playing for one hold out the entire time that's all they need we needed to be perfect
00:39:45
foreign jail one way or another and he's never gonna hurt another girl again at the end of the day
00:39:56
my daughter Diana she's not coming home she's not and he's still alive graduation day
00:40:14
she was happy all her adult life started it was a good day Lena wants people to remember and learn
00:40:26
from her daughter's story if this has happened to Diana it's gonna happen to anybody
00:40:33
if you feel something is not right listen to yourself because something is not right
00:40:42
today after all these years Diana's bedroom looks exactly the way she left it it was one of the older pictures of
00:40:51
Diana when she's a baby in Moldova she really didn't want to take this picture she was a little bit grumpy here
00:41:00
I'm thinking about Diana minute I wake up she's the last thing I'm thinking about
00:41:06
when I fall asleep every single day and this is forever that's how it's going to be
00:41:17
[Music] an intruder came into her house and attacked her stabbing her repeatedly a
00:41:41
woman's Iron Will there's no earthly reason why I'm alive none and the thin line between life and death the amount
00:41:48
of strength that goes into that is just unimaginable 48 hours Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus
00:41:55
[Music]