The Path to Payback: A Tale of Murder and Revenge

Dwight Lamon Jones has been linked to the recent killings of six people in Arizona, all of whom were reportedly connected to his highly contentious 2011 divorce. Among the dead are a forensic psychologist who testified against him, two paralegals who worked for his ex-wife’s attorney, and a mental health counselor who worked in the same complex as the mental health professional his son was court-ordered to see post-custody dispute. The two other victims have so far not been identified. Mr. Jones died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a police standoff.

While there is a lot of investigating left to do, the motive so far appears to be revenge. However, like so many other revenge-motivated murders, some of what happened doesn’t make a lot of logical sense. If his divorce happened in 2011 (although there were child support payment and custody issues for several years afterward), why did he wait so long to act? Why didn’t he kill his ex-wife?

Why kill innocent people? The murdered psychiatrist appeared to be the only one directly involved in his divorce. The two paralegals, for example, worked for his wife’s divorce attorney so we can assume she was the target. But, when it was clear she was not in the office, why kill two people who may have had no involvement in the Jones divorce proceeding and, even if they did, certainly did…