ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - The sister of a Gary woman accused of killing a baby’s mother and trying to pass off the newborn as her own says the charges against her sibling are “a hard pill to swallow.”
Geraldine R. Jones, 36, was arraigned Monday on murder, kidnapping and criminal confinement in the death of Samantha Fleming, 23, and the abduction of the Anderson woman’s daughter, Serenity.
After that hearing, her sister, April Jones, said she’s baffled by the charges against her sibling, whom she called kind and generous and someone who has never been convicted of a crime.
“I don’t accept any of this. This is a hard pill to swallow. It’s a shocker. Where did this come from? That is why, mentally, something had to have happened to her,” she told The Herald Bulletin (https://bit.ly/1F3SOdy ).
Authorities allege Geraldine Jones posed as a state child welfare worker and lured Fleming to Lake County under the pretense that Fleming had a court hearing there. Fleming’s body was found in a Gary home April 17. She had been stabbed 10 times, doused in bleach and stuffed in a plastic bin.
Police said Jones fled to Texas after the killing and left the infant in relatives’ care. She was returned to Indiana on Sunday and is being held without bond at the Madison County jail.
During Monday’s arraignment, Madison County Magistrate Steven Clase entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Jones and told her she could receive a maximum sentence of 97 years in prison and the death penalty if she’s convicted of the charges. Clase approved a public defender for Jones, who told the judge her family is raising money to hire a private attorney.
Police said Jones faked being pregnant before the homicide, and April Jones said her sister looked pregnant, acted pregnant and even gained weight.
She said she’s praying for Fleming’s family and cannot imagine their grief.
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Information from: The Herald Bulletin, https://www.theheraldbulletin.com
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