On Sunday, June 3, Mary Simmons went to answer the door at her home on Kit Fox Place in Fountain Hills. The time is uncertain, but it was probably around mid-day.

When Mary, 70, answered the door she may or may not have been surprised to see who the caller was. She knew him; it was, Dwight Jones a man she played tennis with on occasion. He was later described as a “sometimes tennis instructor.”

What exactly happened inside the home between the time Jones entered and when he left may never be known, but Simmons and her husband, Bryon Thomas, 72, were later found shot to death in the house, and police are certain that Jones is the man responsible.

It is known that Jones was in possession of a .22-caliber handgun belonging to the couple. Officers later witnessed him drop a bag into a trash can in Scottsdale. It contained the handgun.

Scottsdale Police and other agencies had been on the trail of Jones since late Saturday. Thanks to a tip, he had become the prime suspect in a murder spree in which four other people died in Scottsdale. Police did not locate Jones until later Sunday afternoon, after he had visited Fountain Hills.

It was late Sunday evening that Scottsdale Police contacted the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and asked them to do a welfare check on the Fountain Hills couple. It was near midnight when deputies arrived and could not get anyone to answer the door. They checked with a neighbor to see if they had a phone number for Thomas and Simmons.

Deputies had to place a ladder up from the lower level driveway to a window over the garage. This provided a view into the main level of the house. The deputy saw Thomas and he appeared to be deceased. At that point the deputies called for a supervisor and prepared to force entry into the house.

Once inside they also found Simmons’ body. Since this was part of a Scottsdale investigation, detectives and forensics specialists from that city were called out to investigate.

Other murders

According to police, Jones’ killing spree began on Thursday, May 31, with Dr. Steven Pitt, a prominent psychiatrist who was found dead at about 5:30 p.m. Police received a report of a loud argument and gunshots. Pitt’s body was then found, the first of the victims.

Pitt was well known for his association with the JonBonet Ramsay murder case in Colorado, where he was an expert witness.

On Friday, June 1, at about 2:15 p.m., police were called out to the downtown Scottsdale area at First and 75th streets. Veleria Sharp, paralegal at a nearby law office, was seen running away from the building when she collapsed, mortally wounded. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

When detectives entered the law office to investigate they found the body of a second woman, Laura Anderson.

Scottsdale Police made an association between the two incidents and began working with Phoenix Police. They quickly made a ballistics match showing the same weapon used in the separate incidents. DNA evidence had also been collected.

Early Saturday, just after midnight, police were called to where a fourth victim was discovered at an office near Mountain View and Hayden roads. Dr. Marshall Levine was found dead by his girlfriend, who went looking for him after she was unable to contact him.

Again the evidence collected connected the three shooting incidents. As the case came together, police came to believe that Levine was a victim of circumstance. He was subletting office space from a woman believed to be the target.

Later Saturday morning police received a tip that the victims had a common connection to a 2010 divorce case between Dwight Jones and his wife. Pitt had been assigned to work with Jones following his divorce from Connie Jones. The paralegals were working for the firm of Burt, Feldman and Grenier, which represented Connie Jones in the divorce.

Levine happened to be sharing office space with a woman who was a counselor to Jones’ son following the divorce.

Closing in

Using DNA from the crime scenes and a sample from his son, Jones was the confirmed suspect in the case and police began the effort to locate him.

Although police had received a tip that Jones had been in Fountain Hills on Sunday around noon, it was about 3 p.m. before they finally found and began tailing him.

Officers observed him drop a bag into a trashcan near a Scottsdale hotel where he was staying. Inside they found a handgun that was registered to the Fountain Hills couple. According to police, Simmons and Thomas were not shot by their own gun.

Officers also saw Jones drop a second bag into a trashcan. This one contained a hat he is believed to have been wearing when Pitt was shot. A witness at that scene described the hat the suspect was wearing.

At about 8 a.m. on Monday, June 4, Scottsdale Police made their first attempt to contact Jones. They evacuated adjacent rooms at the Extended Stay hotel on Shea Boulevard near Scottsdale Road. Realizing police were closing in, Jones exchanged several shots with officers.

When the shooting stopped police moved in and entered the room where they found Jones dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Nearly everyone who knew Simmons and Thomas said they were a wonderful, sweet couple, who would always say hello. Simmons is described as an active woman who loved to play tennis, and she was a caregiver to Thomas, who was reportedly blind.

Police have found no link between Jones’ divorce proceedings and the Fountain Hills couple. It appears to have been a casual, recreational connection on the tennis court between Jones and Simmons. It would seem that at the time they were killed, Thomas and Simmons would have had no hint that Jones was being hunted as a murder suspect.

Burglary

On Wednesday, June 6, at about 3:30 a.m. deputies were called back to Thomas and Simmons’ house on Kit Fox Place. Neighbors reported that there were suspicious vehicles parked in front of the house.

The vehicles were gone, but deputies did find that someone had entered the house to burglarize it. Several rooms had been gone through and although deputies did not know what was missing, there clearly were items taken.

Scottsdale Police investigating the homicide reported they left the home secure when they left at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday.