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Dateline: Evil in a College Town delves into chilling murder and rape case of two Vincennes University students, Brook Baker and Erika Norman, set two years apart. The isolated tragedies in the quiet college town of Indiana led to one of the most chilling double murder investigations, culminating in the arrest and conviction of a twenty-two-year-old alumna of the same university, Brian Jones. Brian Jones was found guilty of the double murders and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and is currently serving his time at the Wabash Valley Correctional facility in Carlisle, Indiana.
On September 7, 1997, Brook Baker, a journalism student of Vincennes University, was found brutally stabbed on her bed in her off-campus residence. When the detectives came to investigate the case, they found bruises on her body and DNA material under her fingernails, suggesting assault. Apart from that, they discovered a bent kitchen knife, towels in the overflowing bathtub, and a soapy kitchen sink. However, the case remained unsolved for two years as none of the suspects' DNA matched that found on Brook Baker's body.
Around two years later, Erika Norman, a Radio and Television student, was reported missing from the VU campus on July 5, 1999. This time, the investigators gathered witnesses, and they verified who Erika was last seen with. As per the witnesses, Erika was last seen at a local bar with a twenty-two-year-old VU alumna, Brian Jones. The investigators searched her apartment and found bloodstains suggesting foul play. They found the crime site quite similar to that of Brook Baker's murder - water-soaked towels and overflowing sinks, and bathtubs.
Erika Norman's body was found by a farmer 16 days later in a cornfield in Lawrence County, Illinois. The investigation into Erika Norman's murder led to Brian Jones submitting his DNA for the test. The detectives were unaware of what was about to be disclosed!
Read more to find out how the detectives investigated the case of the double murders of Brook Baker and Erika Norman.
Dateline: Evil in a College Town- How did the detectives catch Brian Jones?
The detectives secured a search warrant for Brian Jones' car after they came to know about his involvement with Erika Norman, on the day she disappeared. They found blood stains inside his vehicle and on his shoes. The forensics report stated that it matched with Erika. At that point, Brian also became a suspect in the 1997 murder of Brook Baker.
What linked both crimes was the presence of Brian Jones' DNA. Evidence from the Brook Baker crime scene was collected and analyzed in 1997- it showed a conclusive match to Jones. Prosecutors were determined that the same person committed the murders based on the witnesses, forensic evidence, the suspect's behavioral pattern, and the crime scene. It was highly evident that the suspect had tried to wipe away the bloodstains with the help of the towel in both cases. Knox County prosecutor Hal Johnson told Oxygen True Crime,
"In all murder cases I've worked, I've never seen anybody do anything like that before. Humans are creatures of habit. Killers are creatures of habit. They'll kill the same way. They'll clean up the same way. Because it worked before."
Jones ultimately pleaded guilty to Erika Norman's murder in a deal that spared him from the death penalty and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. However, in 2001, (as per a report by Associated Press) in a separate trial for Brook Baker's rape and murder, Brian Jones was sentenced to life imprisonment without any possibility of parole.
Dateline: Evil in a College Town: Where is Brian Jones now?
During the trial of Brian Jones for Brook Baker's case, Knox County Superior Court Judge Tim Crowley, during the hearing, stated that Jones accepted that he stabbed Brook multiple times and thus, due to safety issues and his lack of remorse, he was sentenced to a lifetime imprisonment without parole. He told Associated Press,
"Jones needs to be confined in prison so he can obtain his rehabilitative services."
Currently, Brian Jones is locked at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana, serving sentences for the double murders. (Reports by My Wabash Valley)
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