RENTON, Wash. — A man will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for raping and murdering a Renton mother and killing her toddler over 30 years ago.
The murders of then-23-year-old Stacy Falcon-Dewey and her 3-year-old son Jacob were unsolved for decades until DNA technology was able to point investigators to a suspect: 51-year-old Jerome Frank Jones.
On Oct. 28, 1994, Stacy and Jacob were found dead on a dead-end road in Renton next to Stacy’s Buick. Both had been shot in the head.
According to court documents, evidence of a struggle was found inside and outside of the car. Investigators say Stacy was raped.
A DNA sample from the suspect was taken from the scene and tested when the technology advanced. The sample was determined to belong to Jones in 2002.
Despite having a match, Jones was not charged as a suspect until 20 years later.
Jones was already behind bars in California, convicted for the 1995 kidnapping and murder of a 30-year-old man.
According to court documents, Jones has a violent past dating back to when he was at least 16 years old. At that age, he was convicted of attempted robbery and assault with a firearm. Court docs say he continued to offend while in prison, and was convicted multiple times for separate attacks while incarcerated. It’s unclear if these assaults were against fellow prisoners or staff.
A jury found Jones guilty of the murders of Stacy and Jacob on Oct. 28.
“She was a beloved mother, daughter, sister and a treasured co-worker and friend to many people. Her unsolved murder and the brutality of her final moments haunted her family, friends and the community for decades. Tragically, Stacy’s mother passed away prior to this trial. Jacob Dewey was three and a half years old when he was murdered. As a toddler, Jacob posed no threat whatsoever to Jones. The heinous and utterly senseless murder of Jacob flies in the face of every human value,” the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office wrote.
In 2023, Jones was released from prison under California’s Elderly Parole Program.
Jones was eligible for release because he was over 50 years old and had served at least 20 years in prison. His murder conviction appears to have been amended to accessory to murder, in order to affect his release under this program, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Jones was then extradited to Washington in 2023, for the charges in this case that were filed in 2022.