(Memphis) The estranged husband of a missing elementary school teacher from Germantown says he has no idea where his wife is.
We spoke to Chris Jones when he showed up at the couple’s divorce hearing Friday, even though Heather Palumbo-Jones was not there.
In court, her attorney called for his arrest.
Completely deadpan, Chris Jones answered questions from reporters about the disappearance of his wife.
“When is the last time you talked to her?” asked Reporter Adam Hammond.
“That would’ve been Monday evening.”
“And how did that go?” asked Hammond.
“It was an upsetting discussion, as many of our discussions as of late are,” said Jones.
Jones admitted to getting into an argument with Palumbo-Jones the night she disappeared, but says he nothing to do with why no one can find her, “I never would put my hands on her. I wanted nothing but reconciliation since the day this started.”
Jones even showed News Channel 3 what he says is the last correspondence he had with his wife.
It’s an email that says, “I cannot face everyone with this. Please forgive me, it is too much. Please raise (the children) to remember me as their loving mommy.”
In court, where our cameras were not allowed, he admitted to faking his wife’s identity in the past.
When she moved out of their Germantown townhouse, he admitted trying to get MLGW to turn back on the lights by using his wife’s name and social security number.
Also on the stand, Jones admitted to recently printing out every single one of his wife’s text messages from her cell phone.
Jones’ own divorce attorney even dropped him as a client after Jones allegedly falsified a letter to Palumbo, pretending to be him.
“Basically we had irreconcilable differences,” said William Jones, a divorce attorney.
When it comes to why Palumbo-Jones has vanished, Jones insists he had nothing to do with that, “I just hope she is OK so we can find a way to get through this.”
Even though, on the stand, Jones admitted to breaking a federal law by intercepting his wife’s text messages, the judge said it wasn’t her jurisdiction to have him arrested.
