In a quiet Fountain Hills, Arizona neighborhood, the lives of 72-year-old Bryon Hayward Thomas and his partner, 70-year-old Mary Simmons, came to a tragic end in early June 2018. The couple was found shot to death in their home on a Monday morning by Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies who were performing a welfare check at the request of the Scottsdale Police Department. The discovery of their bodies was a grim extension of a multi-day killing spree that had already left four other individuals dead across the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The man responsible for the string of homicides was identified as Dwight Lamon Jones. While the motives for the first four murders were connected to Jones's contentious divorce and child custody battle from nearly a decade prior, his connection to Thomas and Simmons was initially a mystery. It was later revealed that Jones and Mary Simmons had a 'social/recreational relationship' and had met four to five years earlier through their shared interest in tennis, occasionally playing together at local parks. Bryon Thomas, who was reportedly blind, was cared for by Simmons.
Investigators were led to the Fountain Hills home after they began tracking Jones as the primary suspect in the other killings. During their surveillance, they witnessed him driving in the area and later saw him discard a bag containing a. 22-caliber handgun that belonged to the couple. This prompted the welfare check that led to the discovery of Thomas and Simmons. Deputies, unable to get an answer at the door, used a ladder to look into a window and saw what appeared to be a deceased male, later identified as Thomas. Upon forcing entry, they found both victims.
The manhunt for Dwight Jones concluded as police closed in on his room at an Extended Stay America hotel in Scottsdale. As officers prepared to apprehend him, Jones took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for the murders of Bryon Thomas and Mary Simmons remains unclear, as they appeared to have no connection to Jones's previous legal troubles. In a strange and unfortunate postscript to the tragedy, the home of Thomas and Simmons was burglarized just days after their deaths, and two of their cars were stolen. An arrest was later made in connection with the burglary.
