Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death is investigating the savage murder of Mary Phillips by serial killer Jack Harold Jones at an office in Bald Knob, Arkansas, in 1995.

Jones was finally brought to justice when he was identified by Mary’s young daughter, Lacy, who managed to survive the killer’s brutal attack. His subsequent arrest and execution led the cops to learn of two other murder victims Jones had killed in Florida, Lori Barrett in 1991 and Regina Harrison in 1983.

On June 6, 1995, investigators attended the scene of what they thought was a double homicide at a tax accountant’s office in Bald Knob. They found the remains of 34-year-old Mary Phillips, who had been brutally beaten, raped, and strangled to death.

At the scene, they also discovered Mary’s daughter, 11-year-old Lacy, whose lifeless body had been beaten and tied to a chair in a closet. One of the investigators was photographing Lacy when, much to his surprise, the girl opened one of her eyes; she was just clinging on to life.

Lacy Phillip’s identified Jack Harold Jones

Lacy was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she slowly began to recover from her shocking injuries and was able to give the cops a description of the killer. She said it was a man with a tattoo around his eye.

The police instantly recognized the description as that of Jack Jones, a man who lived locally and was known to the police. He was brought in for questioning and promptly confessed to the officers.

Former Chief Investigator Bill Lindsey said of Jones: “Most of the people that we run across, they’ve got either a drug problem or there’s some other reason why they’ve done something like that, but Jones, he was just cold-blooded. That’s what I got from him. He was just a cold-blooded person.”

Jones was put on trial, and on being found guilty, he was sentenced to be executed. During his trial, he told the media that he just wanted to die. At the time of the murder, he suffered from bipolar disorder and medicated himself with methamphetamine.

While Jones was awaiting execution, his DNA was fed into a database which led to the discovery that he had raped and strangled Lori Barrett in Fort Lauderdale in 1991. Barrett had been a 32-year-old tourist from Pennslyvania when she was murdered.

In 2006, Jones sent a letter to his sister with instructions to open it on his death. She opened the letter shortly after he was executed in April 2017 and found that it was a confession note. He admitted to killing 20-year-old college student Regina Harrison, in Hollywood’s North Beach, FL., in 1983.

More from Evil Lives Here

Follow the links to read about more murders examined on Evil Lives Here.

Claire Throssell was in an abusive marriage with Darren Sykes, and when she finally left him, he responded by murdering their two sons in a sickening attempt to “punish” her and cause her pain.

Stafford Shaw shot dead his girlfriend and baby daughter, Morgan and Leah Rogers, before fleeing the scene. He later tried to blame Morgan for killing the baby, and he then killed a couple while trying to evade the police.

Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.