In the quiet town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, the life of 70-year-old Mary Lee Simmons came to a tragic and violent end in early June of 2018. She was found shot to death in her home alongside her partner, 72-year-old Bryon Thomas. Simmons, a woman known for her active lifestyle and love of tennis, was also a devoted caregiver to Thomas, who was blind.
Their deaths were the final act in a deadly rampage carried out by 56-year-old Dwight Lamon Jones.
Over several days, Jones had targeted and killed four other people connected to a bitter divorce and custody battle he had gone through nearly a decade earlier. His victims included the forensic psychiatrist who had evaluated him, two paralegals at the law firm that represented his ex-wife, and a counselor he mistakenly believed was associated with his case.
Mary Simmons' connection to her killer was tragically incidental and worlds away from the courtroom drama that fueled his rage. She had met Dwight Jones four to five years earlier on the tennis court, and they occasionally met to play. There is no evidence to suggest she had any knowledge of the turmoil in his past or the violent spree he had embarked upon. The motive for Jones's attack on Simmons and Thomas remains unclear, a senseless extension of a vendetta that ultimately consumed innocent lives.
The discovery of the couple's bodies came as authorities were already deep into their manhunt for Jones. After being tipped off by his ex-wife's new husband, a retired police detective, investigators began tracking Jones's movements. While surveilling him, they witnessed him discard a bag into a trash can, which was later found to contain a. 22-caliber handgun belonging to Simmons and Thomas. This prompted Scottsdale police to request a welfare check at the couple's Fountain Hills residence late on the night of June 4th. When deputies arrived and could not get a response, they looked through a window and saw a deceased male, leading them to force entry and discover the tragic scene.
The manhunt for Dwight Jones came to an end the same day Mary Simmons and Bryon Thomas were found. As a SWAT team closed in on his room at an Extended Stay America hotel in Scottsdale, Jones took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The. 40-caliber Glock found in his hotel room was ballistically matched to the other murders, bringing a close to the investigation but leaving behind a trail of grief and unanswered questions.
