Kenneth Joseph Jones, 46, was found shot multiple times in the front yard of an abandoned home near Sumter Street and Sundy Avenue in Aiken, South Carolina, on the morning of October 31, 2023. The Aiken Department of Public Safety responded to a call about the shooting at about 9:45 a.m.; officers and emergency medical services pronounced Jones dead at the scene.

Investigators developed a suspect months later. On April 16, 2024, 20-year-old Jemaurea Johnson was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the killing. Authorities indicated additional arrests were anticipated as the investigation continued. Johnson’s prior record includes a 2022 arrest on two attempted murder counts that were dismissed; he pleaded to lesser charges of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle and unlawful carrying of a pistol and received a three-year sentence but was released early. In early 2024 he was arrested on separate charges including fleeing from police, theft by receiving stolen property, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and reports say a gun recovered during one of those arrests was linked to Kenneth Jones’s death.

If anyone has information about Jones, his movements that morning, or the abandoned property near Sumter and Sundy, please share tips with Aiken investigators.