THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270812
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 41 lines
A memorial fund has been set up to accommodate the large response from people who want to ensure that murder victim Megan Jones has a proper burial.
Jones' friend Leslie Draper said he was inundated with offers Thursday.
Funeral homes offered their chapels. One offered a complete service. Two people and one cemetery offered burial plots. On Wednesday, a Norfolk woman offered to pay all expenses of a proper burial.
The response came after the medical examiner's office said it was releasing Jones' body to the sheriff's department for a state burial. Jones was murdered in her Delaware Avenue home in May.
The body has been caught in a legal battle between Jones' parents and her husband, Tobin Jones, who is charged in her murder. The parents gave up fighting for the body in July, saying they did not have enough money.
On Wednesday, a judge denied a request from Tobin Jones' defense attorneys to stop the release of the body so it could be used for further testing.
The judge said he would reconsider his decision if the defense attorneys could produce a signed contract for the testing and show him exactly what tests require the full body and could not be done with existing samples.
On Thursday, defense attorneys for Tobin Jones filed additional paperwork seeking another hearing on the matter.
Draper said he, Megan's family and the rest of the community that has contacted him are against another delay in releasing the body.
``We definitely want it to be denied so we can put closure to what's happened to Megan,'' Draper said. Once the injunction has been denied, Draper said, he will go ahead with plans for a graveside service. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
TO DONATE
Donations may be sent to The Megan L. Jones Memorial Fund, Bank
of the Commonwealth, 1870 Kempsville Road, Virginia Beach, Va.
23464.
KEYWORDS: MURDER BURIAL FUND by CNB