(Byhalia, MS) Three people are in jail, accused of robbing and beating a 69-year-old man near the Byhalia race track Thursday night.
Authorities believe the same trio may be responsible for a similar robbery earlier this week in Tippah County.
Jennifer Owens-Jones, Johnny Ryan Jones, and Keaundra Moore are charged with armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Investigators said Jennifer Owens-Jones and Keaundra Moore met their victim there at around 5:30p.m. Jones knows the victim, but deputies do not know why they arranged the meeting.
Maj. Kelly McMillen with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department said that the woman, Jones, got into the victim’s car to distract him.
McMillen said Moore then got out of the suspect’s car, a black Cadillac, and came over to the victim’s car. He allegedly used an aluminum baseball bat to smash through the drivers’ side window and hit the victim in the face and head.
“Before he was even loaded into the ambulance, he could barely see us, due to the swelling of the strikes that he took,” McMillen said.
The victim was transported to The MED and is expected to recover. He was able to tell detectives the name of the suspect.
McMillen remembered Owens-Jones from a previous incident. He asked Benton County deputies to help locate her.
When they arrived, McMillen said, “One of the individuals that we believe was involved was walking out of the house with what we know is our victim’s personal property.”
With a search warrant, they also found an aluminum baseball bat covered in what looked like blood.
The woman’s husband, Johnny Ryan Jones, is suspected to be involved as well.
Another inmate told authorities these same people were responsible for a similar robbery in Blue Mountain, MS.
In both cases, the victims are elderly men who seem to know the husband and wife.
