Although authorities don’t suspect foul play at this time, a grieving mother says that her daughter, Natalie Jones, who was found dead in her car earlier this week in Georgia, was abducted.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, human remains were found inside a hot pink Chevrolet on a property in a wooded area in Franklin, Georgia, close to Roosterville Road and Welcome Road. Missing mom Natalie Jones, 28, was last seen driving a distinct four-door, Chevrolet Cavalier, that she had painted a hot pink color with a blue stripe. It has a Georgia license plate number of RVE6177.
“Adventures with Purpose,” an organization that specializes in water recovery while traveling cross-country to help find missing people, was on the scene when police arrived. Jones’ sister confirmed live with the organization that remains were her sister’s. An official identification by a coroner, however, still needs to be made.
Jones’ mother, Elaine Gordon, told Channel 2 Action News that her daughter was in the middle of a tumultuous custody battle and was preparing for a court hearing before she vanished. She added that Jones had been getting threatening messages from others before she disappeared.
Although Heard County Sheriff Ross Henry said evidence suggests Jones’ car had been in the same place since she vanished, Gordon thinks someone abducted and harmed her. Gordon also doesn’t believe her daughter’s car could have been in the same place for the past three months.
“I know we had 10 cars out and every one of them passed that spot where her car was found,” Gordon said. “There’s some evil people in this world today. A lot of demons that don’t care.”
While neighbors said the car had not been seen there earlier and others speculated it was planted there, Henry debunked the statements and called them “90% fabricated.”
“Everything that has been said, 90% is just stuff they have fabricated. The car has been there, probably from the day she went missing.”
“There was speculation that the guy that was doing the clearing, said the car was not there yesterday morning and then he got back home yesterday evening the car was there, that’s not true at all,” Henry told CBS 19. “The car was clearly there. The vegetation that had grown up around the car. You can tell that weeds had grown through the wheels and the bumper, it’s clearly been there a long time. “
Heard announced that the remains found inside the car were “consistent with being there since July.” Jones disappeared in July.
“Whoever fabricated that the car was not there has made a lot of trouble,” Henry added, according to The Newnan Times-Herald.
“There were bushes grown up through the tires, through the bumper. The car has clearly been there for a long period of time.”
The sheriff added that the car didn’t show any evidence of a wreck and that it was purposely driven to that spot. Again, he reiterated that the car was not driven recently, but in July, before kudzu, trees and bushes covered up the area.
“Who in the world would try to move a car that they have hidden for three months? If they moved it, they would have had to have a helicopter to set it there and to put bushes around it. And clearly that is not the case.”
“I made it,” the text read.
Bishop previously told CrimeOnline that her sister was at the with several friends at home off of Riverchase Drive in Opelika, but none of the friends knew where Jones planned to drive to after she left.
Police reportedly tried to access additional information from Jones’ cellphone, but Bishop said there was “minimal activity” available because Jones used a texting app.
Jones’ phone last pinged “from a south tower in Ephesus near Franklin, Georgia,” at 4:40 a.m. on July 5, according to Bishop. Since then, the phone has been turned off, something Bishop previously said was out of character for her sister.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the investigation. The remains have been sent for an autopsy and toxicology.
Jones leaves behind two young sons. A GoFundMe has been set up to help with memorial funds.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Natalie Jones/Facebook]
