Background: Rockfish Road in Raeford, N.C. (Google Maps). Inset: Caleb Jones (Hoke County Sheriff’s Office).
A North Carolina man was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly killed his mother during an altercation with two bail bondsmen, one of whom he allegedly attacked with an ax.
On Dec. 16, Hoke County police responded to a 911 call at the home of Caleb Jones, 46, where an “assault in progress” had been reported by an unnamed bail bondsman. According to a Facebook post by the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office, a second bail bondsman had been struck by an ax in the “upper body area” and a woman at the scene was “unresponsive.” That woman, Linda Hall, 73, was Jones’ mother.
Hall was airlifted to a hospital and succumbed to her injuries the next day. The injured bail bondsman was also taken to the hospital for treatment, but information about his condition was not available.
After the 911 call was made and police arrived on the scene, Jones reportedly barricaded himself inside his home on Rockfish Road while detectives and EMS tended to the alleged victims. The Hoke County Sheriff’s Office Special Emergency Response Team and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol were called in to talk Jones down. Hoke County police were eventually able to detain Jones and bring him to the hospital for a medical evaluation. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Dec. 23, when he was booked into the Hoke County Detention Center.
Hoke County is around 100 miles east of Charlotte.
WNCN, a local CBS affiliate, spoke to investigators who said that the bail bondsmen were at Jones’ residence because he failed to make a court appearance in October. Jones previously faced five felony charges including violating a domestic violence protective order, communicating threats, and eluding arrest. Hoke County Captain Daniel Shipp told WNCN that Hall was trying to help Jones when the altercation between the two took place. Jones then allegedly turned his rage toward one of the bail bondsman, whom he reportedly struck with the ax.
Jones made his first court appearance on Dec. 27 after being charged with second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of assault inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. He is being held on $1.78 million bond.
