No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
St. Louis, MO – September 9, 2023 – Last Thursday, 44-year-old Jesse Jones arrived at an address to repossess a car. Locating it, he found the borrower had it packed with all her belongings and was in the process of moving. In an act of kindness, Jesse offered to drive the borrower to the new address and help her unload it. That’s when tragedy struck.
It was shortly after 1pm last Thursday when police arrived at the scene of a reported shooting at the 5900 block of Hamilton Terrace. Upon arrival, they found 45-year-old Jesse Jones reportedly shot in the left arm, unconscious and not breathing. Jesse was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jones, a resident of Elsberry, was the owner of JJ’s Towing in St. Louis. He is survived by his new wife Chrysta, sister Stephanie, and adopted adult son and a teenage daughter.
“Jesse was so kind-hearted that he offered to drive the vehicle to her new home and help her unload,” newlywed wife Christa said. ” Then, Jesse stopped answering his phone. That’s when it happened. He was my unicorn.”
Chrysta said that she knew something was wrong. The pair would talk multiple times a day to do safety checks.
Jesse was found dead in the street wearing big, furry slippers in the shape of a bear foot.
“They were lucky he was wearing shoes at all!” his sister Stephanie told reporters with a laugh. “He loved being goofy. He loved wearing overalls with no shirt underneath it. He loved tie-dye shirts. That’s him.”
She added that he loved his new wife, Chrysta, who he had married just last spring. He enjoyed traveling the country on his motorcycle and reading.
“It is a huge loss for the people he loved and his family. He would drop everything and drive three states just to help us out,” she said. “The world is a worse place today without him.”
Chrysta said her husband operated JJ’s Towing & Recovery, he’d done so since 2017. He had nearly two decades of experience but Chrysta said it was a dangerous job. She recalled multiple times he’d been stabbed, guns pulled on him and even guns fired at him. But she never imagined the worst.
“It was senseless, it was cold blooded and it makes you lose a little faith in humanity,” Chrysta said. “The next and last time that I will ever see him will be to release him to the morgue so he can be cremated,” she said while choking up with tears.
Through the pain of losing her husband and best friend, Jones plans to continue her husband’s legacy by continuing to operate the towing and recovery business.
Arrest
The following day, Illinois State Police arrested 27-year-old Dwayne Davis in connection with Jones’s murder. He has been charged in St. Louis with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, 2 counts of armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with Jones’s death.
In the next few days, Jesses’s widow Chrysta plans to reach out to Davis’ family because she understands they’re dealing with loss too.
At this point there is no fundraising effort to support Chrysta and her family as they deal with their loss. The company Facebook page shows the following contact numbers for them for anyone who wishes to offer condolences or support fundraising to help them through this tragedy.
(314) 327-2200 – jjstowing2014@gmail.com
Sources: KSDK News, St. Louis Post Dispatch
EDITORS NOTE: This marks the fourth agent killed on duty in three months with at least half-a dozen more shot and injured over the same period. In my research, I have never found so many killings in the repossession industry over such a short period of time. I pray otherwise, but I fear that this increase in repossession violence isn’t over. Something seems very different.
Eleven years ago a number of other repossession industry leaders and myself were interviewed by the Huffington Post regarding what seemed then a very violent period in the industry. Among those interviewed was Renovo (now Primeritus) founder the late Kevin Flynn of Chicago who stated;
“You do something two million times, the one-in-a-million thing is going to happen twice. All the prudence in the world isn’t going to stop that. If we were talking about pizza delivery men, the danger is significantly greater.“
I don’t buy that. Something out there has changed since then. People are different. More desperate, more dangerous, and perhaps a little less humane.
Please stay safe out there folks. These are dangerous times.
Kevin Armstrong
Publisher
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