Joni Michelle Williams, a 54-year-old female from Tennessee Colony, Texas, died on May 29, 2026, after authorities say she was found fatally shot in the Tennessee Colony area of Anderson County. Deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a reported shooting that Friday, and when they arrived, they found Williams dead with an apparent gunshot wound. Her death was treated as a homicide investigation, and an autopsy was ordered as investigators began collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and trying to determine what led to the shooting.
The case quickly turned toward someone who had been close to her. Investigators identified Bruce Kenton Jeffers, 65, as Williams' ex-boyfriend and a person of interest in her death. Before he was taken into custody, authorities were seeking him for questioning because of his prior relationship with Williams and the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Reports indicate that the warrant used to detain him was for violating bond conditions in an unrelated matter, but Texas authorities wanted him brought back to Anderson County as part of the homicide investigation.
Jeffers was found the next day, May 30, hundreds of miles away in Arizona. Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives had been notified that authorities in Palestine, Texas, were looking for a homicide suspect believed to be traveling west on Interstate 10 in a white GMC pickup truck. Troopers, working with Benson police and detectives, located the vehicle on I-10 near Benson, Arizona. Jeffers was stopped, detained, and arrested without incident. Authorities said he was armed at the time of his arrest.
After the arrest, Jeffers was booked into the Cochise County Jail in Arizona on a full-extradition warrant. His bond was reported as $300,000 while he awaited extradition back to Texas. Some reports described him as accused in the May 29 shooting death of Williams, while others described him as detained for questioning or as a person of interest as the Anderson County Sheriff's Office continued its investigation. As of the available online reports, the public information centered on his Arizona arrest, the extradition process, and the ongoing homicide investigation; no trial outcome or conviction was reported.
