On the evening of April 7, 2015, in Augusta, Georgia, 31-year-old John Lee Jones was shot in the back on Second Avenue and killed after a confrontation over a mistaken belief that someone had taken a man’s cell phone. The man who approached the group was identified as Carl Jones, not related to the victim.

Two witnesses identified Carl Jones from a photo lineup, and forensic testing by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation matched spent shotgun shells at the scene to shells found in Carl Jones’s yard. Two years later investigators placed Carl Jones’s girlfriend at the scene by cell phone records; she pleaded guilty to hindering the apprehension of a criminal after admitting she drove Carl Jones away and gave him money while he was hiding.

A Richmond County Superior Court jury found Carl Jones guilty of felony murder, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime, and two counts of criminal damage to property; he received life without parole plus 15 years, and the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence.

If anyone knew John Lee Jones or has information about the events that night, please share what you know.