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Woman’s Death Changed From Suicide To MurderBy SHARON HERBAUGH Associated Press WriterHOUSTON (AP) — ALouisiana woman who authorities believed had committed suicide apparently was fed an overdose of barbiturates by three people who wanted to sell her baby, the Harris County medical examiner said after reviewing new evidence in thecase.Dr. Joseph Jachimczyk on Friday changed the cause of Cheryl Ann Jones’ death from suicide to homicide.“This case had all the earmarks of a textbook suicide,” Jachimczyk said. “But after reviewing the new evidence it is apparent that it was a homicide. ”Mrs. Jones, 23, of New Orleans, came to Houston with three people on March 7, 1980, believing she had won a two-hour shopping spree, said police Detective Paul Motard.The following day, she wasfound dead in an expensive southwest Houston hotel. One of her wrists had been slashed, and a three-page, unsigned suicide note was found in the room.Medical examiners ruled Mrs. Jones killed herself with a drug overdose. But Motard and Detective Gil Schultz were skeptical.“It didn’t make sense. A young woman leaves her home with three strangers to go on what she believes is a shopping spree. She winds up dead in a hotel and her baby is mysteriously taken back to the father in a cab the same day,” Motard said.Motard would not discuss in detail the investigation but said the district attorney probably will be asked to take the case to agrand jury.In January, Harold Lee Schut, a 40-year-old man arrested in Reno, Nev., on an unrelated charge, told authorities that he, his 30-year-old wife, Jackie, and a woman identified only as Cindy tricked Mrs. Jones into coming to Houston because they planned to sell her infant daughter, Amanda, for $2,000, police said.“They spotted her one day in a Navy PX. They approached Mrs. Jones and said they wanted her baby’s picture for a contest. If she won she would get a two-hour shopping spree and buy all the baby things she needed,” Motard said. “They had approached another woman but she ignored them. Mrs. Jones just happened to be there andshe was gullible.”The three went to Mrs. Jones' house early March 7, 1980. and told her she had won and had to leave immediately for Houston, Motard said.They checked into a hotel, where Mrs. Jones was fed coffee and soft drinks spiked with barbiturates, Motard said. She was found about 24 hours later by a hotel maid, and the others and the baby were gone, the detective said.Detectives found the suicide note, which said she had left her husband for another man but they had broken off their relationship. “My life is ruined. I left my husband for another man and now I have nothing,” the note said.The FBI determined that the note was written by Mrs. Jones but “they felt it was done undpr some kind of stress situation,” Motard said.The three suspects allegedlyreceived $2,000 in advance to deliver Amanda to another person believed to live in Houston. But after Mrs. Jones died, the woman identified as Cindy took the baby back to New Orleans and had her delivered to her father in a cab, Motard said. The father was never a suspect in the aase, police said.The Schuts have been charged with murder in the Jan. 21, 1980, death of an Athens, Ala., woman, who was fatally shot while attempting to save her 16-day-old son from a kidnapping, Motard said.Schut is in jail in Alabama awaiting trial. His wife is being held in Yakima, Wash., whereshe has been charged with child abuse.STANLE1AttorrSuite 301One Schreiner Center8 A.M. - 5 P. Hourly and Contir No Charge for initial I
Newspaper Details
Kerrville Daily Times
Kerrville, Texas, US
Sun, Jun 23, 1985
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Melonie S.
USA 19 Mar 2020
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