Victor Earl Jones was 48 years old when he died on Friday, May 31, 2013, inside California State Prison, Los Angeles County, in the northeast Antelope Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 44750 60th St. West, the address of the state prison in Lancaster. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
He was an inmate at the prison. Two days after his death, the Los Angeles Times reported that sheriff's detectives were investigating it as a homicide. "Inmate Victor Earl Jones, 48, was found dead at the prison Friday afternoon," the Times reported, citing Deputy Lillian Peck of the Sheriff's Department, who said a sheriff's homicide detective was investigating. Coroner's officials said that "a preliminary investigation indicated that another inmate struck Jones with an unknown object." An autopsy was still pending at the time, according to Deputy Coroner Dana Bee.
"Authorities did not release the names of any suspects," the Times wrote. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website, the paper reported, Jones had been serving time since 1985. That means he had spent close to 28 years, more than half of his life, in state custody by the time he was killed. The Times did not report what crime had sent him to prison, and that detail is not repeated here.
Beyond those facts, almost nothing about Victor has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. He surely had relatives or friends outside the prison walls who remember him, and who may have waited years for answers about how he died.
The prison where he died, often called Lancaster State Prison, sits on the western edge of the city of Lancaster in the high desert of the Antelope Valley, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It is the only state prison in Los Angeles County, and it houses men classified at the highest security levels, including many serving long or life sentences. Killings inside California prisons are investigated by outside law enforcement, and because this prison lies in Los Angeles County, the Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau handled the case.
A killing inside a prison is still a homicide, and the victim is still someone's son, brother or father. Prison deaths, however, rarely draw lasting public attention, and a case like this one can quietly disappear from view even when investigators believe they know the general circumstances. Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Victor Earl Jones could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was incarcerated at or worked at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, in late May 2013, or who knew Victor and heard talk of what happened to him, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
