Online Reporter
INDIANA. – When Sarah Gilbert was informed that her beloved sister had been murdered, she let out the most horrendous scream. Then, as her world fell apart, came a second gut-wrenching phone call.
Not only had Casei Chris Jones’ demonic husband slaughtered her in their home, he had also killed her four children – including two of his own – in the days that followed.
All the while, he pulled the wool over Sarah’s eyes by sending her cruel fake messages as he scrambled to cover up the bone-chilling spree.
Sarah, 41, from Indiana, explains her younger sister, Casei, 31, was more like a daughter to her when they were growing up, before they became best friends later in life.
But in July 2019, she learned that Casei and her children – Cameron, nine; Preston, four; Mercalli, two; and Aiyanna, one – were all victims of bludgeoning, strangulation and drowning over a two-month period, before their decomposing corpses were eventually found.
The family massacre had gone undetected as Michael Wayne Jones Jr, 45, had sent Sarah messages from Casei’s phone and uploaded photos and statuses on Facebook, pretending to be her sister.
Jones Jnr was sentenced to the death penalty in 2023 and had his appeal rejected in July 2025.
Now, making an emotional call for survivors of domestic abuse to “get help and get out”, Sarah tells The Sun of her gut-wrenching grief – and why she was left furious after hearing her sister’s murderer had been sentenced to death.
Sarah had a family – Casey, 21; Zara, 20; Lohgun, 16 and Kamlyn, 13 and her sister, Casei, had a family of her own too.
Sarah says: “Initially, she was married to her high school sweetheart aged 18. They had two sons, Preston and Cameron.
“But years on, they spilt up. Then in 2015, when Casei was 28, she fell in love with Michael.
“Michael, who had an ex-wife and kids of his own, was incredible with Casei’s boys.
“He instantly became their father. They had two children of their own soon after, my little nieces, Mercalli and Ayianna.”
After two years together, in 2017, Casei and Jones Jr married. Sarah says her family and theirs were very close.
Sarah spoke to her sister on the phone daily, always looking forward to their next visits.
In May 2019, Casei, then a stay-at-home mum, Jones Jr, a construction worker, and their kids visited Sarah – as well as their dad, who lived near them in Indiana.
“Michael was intoxicated and screaming about stabbing everyone.
“Casei was seen holding him back, trying to calm him. I was really shocked as I’d never witnessed or even heard of them fighting before.
“When I quizzed Casei about it, she brushed it off. She insisted it ‘wasn’t that’ and it was ‘blown out of proportion.’
“I thought it was odd, but I took her word for it.”
Things seemed normal to Sarah until July came around, two months later, and Casei suddenly went quiet.
Sarah had received no calls and no messages. She kept reaching out but had no response, which was out of character.
Sarah says: “I thought, she must be sick. Or really busy. But it wasn’t like Casei.
“I finally had a few replies. ‘Hey I’m fine. I’m sick. My bak (sic) hurts.’
“It seemed odd. I kept receiving the odd message, here and there. For Preston’s 4th birthday, she re-posted an old birthday post.
“Casei was huge on birthdays. Every year, she’d make a huge collage for each of the kids on Facebook.
“Then in September, on my birthday, I didn’t hear from her. And on Cameron’s 10th birthday the same month, she posted nothing too.
“At this point, I knew something was seriously wrong. Things got even more bizarre when her Facebook name changed from ‘Casei Jones’ to ‘Princess Casei.’
“I began calling family. Everyone had received the odd message, but no one had seen her face-to-face.
“My cousin heard from my mum that Michael had collected the girls from her, and said Casei had a cold at home. Alarms bells rang for me.”
World crumbles
Worried sick, Sarah called the police in Florida, requesting a welfare check on her sister as no one had seen her in two months.
The following day, she received a call that would change her life forever.
She says: “It was our mum. I hadn’t spoken to her in 11 years.
“She broke the news that Casei was dead. Michael had been arrested crashing his car, and Casei’s body was in the back.
“The most horrendous scream escaped my lungs. I kept screaming how they were all wrong.
“Just when I thought my world had seriously crumbled, I got another call in the early morning.
“The police told us that all the babies weren’t okay either. I heard the officer get emotional and fall to the ground.
“I felt sick. The shock was paralysing. I was hysterical.”
Sarah learned that her sister, her nephews and nieces had all been brutally murdered by Jones Jr.
And slowly over the coming months, the truth emerged.
Sarah says: “Back at the start of July, when Casei had gone quiet, she and Michael had an argument at home.
“He’d beat her to death with Preston’s metal baseball bat whilst the kids were asleep upstairs.
“Michael put Casei’s body in a tote bag, and hid her in their bedroom closest upstairs.
“He then continued living with the children as normal, telling them Mum was sick.”
For the next month, Jones Jr impersonated Sarah’s sister on Facebook, pretending to be her and replying to messages from the family.
Weeks after Casei’s murder, the killer dropped off Cameron and Preston at their dad’s to stay.
Days after, he dropped Mercalli and Aiyanna to stay at Sarah and Casei’s mum’s house.
Sarah says: “But as the school year was beginning soon, he panicked. He pulled Cameron out of bed in the night, and strangled him to death on the floor.
“Then he put him in a suitcase next to his mum’s body in the closet.
“The next day he used a zip-tie on Preston and drowned him in the bathtub, putting him in a tote bag in the closet.
“Later that week, Michael collected the girls from their grandma’s.
“At the end of that month, he drove to the police station, and sat in the car with the girls ready to hand himself in.
“He changed his mind, went home, and drowned both them in the bathtub.
“He placed all five bodies in Casei’s minivan, and drove to stay with his ex-wife and kids.
“For the next fortnight, he lived with them, pretending his family was alive at home.” – Sun Club
