Andre Vernell Jones: The East St. Louis Murders
Early Life and Criminal History
Andre Vernell Jones was born on July 22, 1956, in East St. Louis, Illinois. Long before he became associated with a series of murders, Jones had accumulated an extensive criminal record. His encounters with law enforcement reportedly began when he was approximately 12 years old and was arrested for purse-snatching. As he grew older, his offenses became increasingly serious, including theft, shoplifting, armed robbery and attempted murder.
Jones spent more than four years in prison after receiving a sentence for armed robbery. By the time of the murders for which he would eventually be convicted, he had been released on parole. Statements attributed to Jones indicated that his previous experiences with the criminal justice system had shaped a disturbing philosophy: he allegedly decided that he would eliminate victims and witnesses so that no one would be left to identify him.
The Murders of Michael and Dora Wallace
On November 15, 1978, 67-year-old Michael Wallace and his 55-year-old wife, Dora Wallace, were killed inside their home in East St. Louis. The attack was especially brutal. According to a written confession Jones later gave investigators, he decapitated Michael Wallace and fatally stabbed Dora Wallace. He then set fire to the residence, apparently attempting to destroy evidence and conceal what had happened inside the house.
Jones was not immediately charged with the Wallace murders. After his arrest in connection with three later killings, he summoned a detective to the jail and provided a six-page handwritten confession describing the deaths. Investigators said he subsequently supplied specific information about the victims and the crime scene. Despite the confession, Jones was never brought to trial for killing Michael and Dora Wallace. The two deaths nevertheless became important during the sentencing proceedings for his other murders because prosecutors used them as evidence of his capacity for calculated and extreme violence.
The April 30, 1979 Killing Spree
On April 30, 1979, Jones and Freddie Clyde Tiller Jr. began a sequence of robberies and murders in East St. Louis. Jones was accompanied by Tiller and Laurie Elam, Tiller’s cousin and Jones’s girlfriend. During the course of the day, three people were killed: Richard Stoltz, Samuel Nersesian and Debra Brown.
The first victim was Richard Stoltz, a 63-year-old World War II veteran. Stoltz was stacking bricks in the rear of a pickup truck when Tiller announced that he intended to rob him. Jones supplied Tiller with a revolver. Tiller approached Stoltz, demanded his property and shot him in the left eye as Stoltz attempted to raise his hands. Tiller then took the victim’s wallet, keys and watch. Although Jones did not fire the fatal shot, he had provided the weapon and participated in the robbery that resulted in Stoltz’s death.
After leaving Stoltz’s body behind, Jones suggested that the group rob Illinois Cleaners, a dry-cleaning business operated by 23-year-old Samuel Wayne Nersesian. Jones and Tiller entered the establishment and held Nersesian at gunpoint while searching for money. Jones shot Nersesian in the head. After the wounded man fell to the floor, Jones fired a second shot into him. The men opened the cash register and took an undetermined amount of money.
Before Jones and Tiller could leave the dry-cleaning business, 21-year-old postal worker Debra Brown arrived in a mail truck and entered the building. Tiller later maintained that he told Jones not to harm her before leaving the store. Jones remained behind and concealed himself near the entrance. When Brown walked inside, he grabbed her from behind, forced her through the kitchen and into a storage area, knocked her down and shot her in the chest. He then fired another bullet into her mouth. Brown died inside the business.
Jones left the building after killing Brown and returned to an apartment across the street. Tiller fled in Brown’s mail truck. The rapid succession of murders demonstrated an apparent effort to eliminate anyone who might identify the perpetrators. All three victims were killed during robberies that produced comparatively little financial gain.
Known and Alleged Victims
- Michael Wallace, 67 – Killed on November 15, 1978, inside his home in East St. Louis, Illinois. Jones confessed that he decapitated Wallace before setting the residence on fire. Jones was not tried for the murder.
- Dora Wallace, 55 – Killed on November 15, 1978, inside the East St. Louis home she shared with her husband. Jones confessed that he stabbed her to death and then burned the house. He was not prosecuted for her murder.
- Richard Michael Stoltz, 63 – Shot and killed on April 30, 1979, in East St. Louis while stacking bricks in a pickup truck. Freddie Tiller fired the fatal shot with a gun supplied by Jones.
- Samuel Wayne Nersesian, 23 – Shot twice in the head on April 30, 1979, during a robbery of Illinois Cleaners in East St. Louis. Jones personally shot and killed him.
- Debra Brown, 21 – Shot in the chest and mouth on April 30, 1979, after entering Illinois Cleaners while performing her duties as a postal worker. Jones personally killed her after forcing her into a rear section of the business.
The Disputed 1971 Confession
While in custody, Jones also claimed that he had participated in a triple murder in 1971, when he would have been approximately 14 years old. He identified the alleged victims as 21-year-old Arthur Lee Walson, 23-year-old Frank Slaughter and Frank’s 21-year-old brother, Jack Slaughter. Jones reportedly said the three men had been shot and stabbed because they failed to pay him for drugs.
The confession was never established through a criminal conviction. A police officer who heard the account reportedly doubted that Jones could have committed such a crime alone at such a young age, and Jones refused to say whether another person had helped him. Because the precise dates and circumstances of the three deaths were not firmly established in the available court record, they are not included among his verified victims.
Arrest and Guilty Pleas
Jones and Tiller were arrested on May 4, 1979, four days after the murders of Stoltz, Nersesian and Brown. Witness testimony, physical evidence and statements made by the defendants connected them to the killings. Laurie Elam became a significant witness, particularly regarding the planning and execution of the robbery that ended with Stoltz’s death.
Jones was indicted on three counts of murder. On August 23, 1979, he pleaded guilty to killing Richard Stoltz, Samuel Nersesian and Debra Brown. His guilty pleas removed the need for a trial on the question of whether he had participated in the murders, although extensive hearings were still required to determine his punishment.
Jones’s defense attorneys sought psychiatric examinations after learning about his confession to the Wallace murders. A psychiatrist concluded that Jones had been legally sane when Stoltz, Nersesian and Brown were killed. The courts determined that he had understood his actions and was capable of assisting his attorneys during the proceedings.
Death Sentence and Appeals
On April 15, 1980, a jury sentenced Jones to death by electrocution for each of the three murders. His convictions were upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court, although the death sentence associated with Richard Stoltz’s murder was later vacated because Jones had not personally fired the fatal shot. The death sentences for the murders of Nersesian and Brown remained in effect.
Jones continued to challenge his convictions and sentences through state and federal appeals. His attorneys raised questions involving his mental condition, his legal representation and the presentation of evidence during sentencing. Courts repeatedly rejected the central claims and allowed the convictions to stand.
Freddie Tiller was separately convicted of two murders and armed robberies connected to the dry-cleaning-store attack. His original death sentences were overturned, and he was eventually given two consecutive 40-year prison terms. The prosecution did not separately try him for Stoltz’s murder after his other convictions exposed him to severe punishment.
Commutation to Life Imprisonment
Jones remained under a death sentence for more than two decades. On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of everyone then awaiting execution in the state. Ryan took the extraordinary action after concluding that serious errors, wrongful convictions and systemic problems had made Illinois’s capital-punishment system unreliable.
As a result, Jones’s punishment was changed from death to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The commutation did not overturn his murder convictions or provide an opportunity for release. He remained imprisoned for the murders of Stoltz, Nersesian and Brown, while his confession continued to connect him to the earlier deaths of Michael and Dora Wallace.
Criminal Classification and Legacy
Andre Vernell Jones is frequently described as both a spree killer and a serial killer. The three murders committed on April 30, 1979, formed a single concentrated episode of violence and therefore fit the general description of a killing spree. His responsibility for the Wallace murders several months earlier places the crimes in separate events divided by a cooling-off period, supporting his classification as a serial killer.
Five victims are firmly connected to Jones through his guilty pleas and detailed confession. Three of those victims were the subjects of murder convictions, while the Wallace case was never prosecuted. His additional claim of responsibility for a 1971 triple murder remains unproven and should be treated as an allegation rather than an established part of his victim count.
The Jones case became one of several highly publicized murder prosecutions arising from East St. Louis during the late 1970s. Its most disturbing feature was the apparent willingness to kill ordinary people during routine robberies and to eliminate witnesses who could later identify the offenders. The victims included an elderly married couple, a military veteran, a young business owner and a postal worker who entered a store while carrying out her daily responsibilities. Their deaths left a permanent record of a brief but extraordinarily violent period in the city’s history.
