On the morning of September 28, 2023, ShotSpotter alerted officers to gunfire near Winkler and Kappel drives in the Castle Point neighborhood. Responding officers found 57-year-old Earl Junebug Jones Jr. of Dellwood lying unresponsive with a single gunshot wound to the head; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives canvassed the area and developed a witness account of someone walking away carrying a distinctively unique bag.

Nearby surveillance captured a man matching that description carrying the same bag just before the shooting. The case advanced when a 21-year-old, Max Jones, was arrested the next day in Ferguson on an unrelated homicide; officers found him attempting to conceal a firearm. Forensic testing at the St. Louis County Crime Laboratory matched that weapon ballistically to the gun used to kill Earl Jones Jr. Detectives say Max Jones admitted being the person in the surveillance footage and had purchased the firearm. He was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action and held on a $1 million cash-only bond.

If anyone knew Earl Jones Jr., saw the unique bag, or has information about the events that morning, please share what is known.