Jones arrested in W. Virginia

A rural Dunkirk man who was wanted in connection with a fatal shooting is in custody.

U.S. Marshals arrested Cory M. Jones, 43, 10402 W. 400 South, late Tuesday afternoon in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Police had been looking for Jones since late Saturday when Shanna Jones, 47, same address, was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. He was considered armed and dangerous.

Cory Jones, who had been referred to in a Jay County Prosecutor’s Office press release as a “person of interest,” was arrested Tuesday on a Jay Circuit Court warrant issued Monday for the murder of Shanna Jones. The U.S. Marshals Service’s Fugitive Task Force tracked him in part via cell phone data, Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur said.

Cory Jones is being held in Martinsburg pending extradition. There is no timeline for return to Jay County, Schemenaur added.

Shanna Jones was found dead just before midnight Saturday at the 10402 W. 400 South home she shared with Cory Jones after Jay County Sheriff’s Office responded to the location for a welfare check. That came after a call from a concerned family member. The shooting is believed to have occurred Saturday evening.

An autopsy was conducted Tuesday, though Schemenaur said he does not yet have results.

A previous prosecutor’s office press release indicated that Shanna Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head. The type of weapon has not yet been identified.

As of Tuesday morning, Schemenaur reported that police — Indiana State Police is assisting Jay County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation — had no indication of where Cory Jones might have been. The location of his arrest is about 75 miles west of Baltimore.

According to court documents, Cory Jones pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor charge of battery resulting in bodily injury in 2008. He also has been found guilty or pleaded guilty to felony charges of burglary (1994) and auto theft (2014).