A Susquehanna County man beat his mother to death Tuesday, then tried but failed to kill himself by ingesting pills the next day, according to state police.
An arrest affidavit does not explain his motive, but says Michael Sean Jones, 46, killed Andrea Vail, 76, in their Silver Lake Twp. home after they argued over comments she made about him. The affidavit does not elaborate on the argument.
Police found Vail badly beaten and dead in her bedroom in the home at 1235 Donovan Road.
“My mom didn’t deserve what I did,” Jones wrote in a suicide note, the affidavit says. “I hit her repeatedly, dragged her in her room by her shirt that ripped off. Gave her meds ... I hoped she would wake up. She was awake after I hit her for about an hour. She couldn’t talk well. I hoped I could nurse her back to health and maybe she wouldn’t turn me in.”
Using his father’s cell phone, Jones’ 9-year-old son texted Vail’s daughter, Patricia Vail, that “something really bad happened.”
“Dad and grandma are dead,” the boy texted, wrongly believing his father killed himself by swallowing Xanax pills. Xanax is a medication for treating anxiety and panic disorders.
The charges
State Trooper Anthony Spegar charged Jones with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person, abuse of corpse, aggravated and simple assault, harassment and marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession.
Patricia Vail notified police about what happened about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, but the assault took place a day earlier, according to the affidavit.
Vail found Jones sitting on the front porch when she arrived. She went inside, found her mother dead and called 911.
“I’m going to prison for life,” Jones told her after the 911 call, according to the affidavit.
The suicide attempt
Jones went back into the home and began taking “numerous unidentified narcotics such as pills” to kill himself, Andrea Vail told police.
Spegar found numerous “suspected narcotics” on the floor in the living room and Andrea Vail’s mostly naked body covered with a coat in her bedroom, according to the affidavit.
Vail had bruises on her face and on her left upper body and left arm. Police also found suspected marijuana, smoking pipes, a spoon and grinders, “all containing suspected drug residue.”
Jones was taken to UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, New York, for treatment.
Boy heard 'thuds'
In an interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton, the boy told police he was home Tuesday evening sitting on a couch with his father and grandmother. The adults began arguing “over comments his grandmother had made to his father.”
“And his father became very angry ... stood up from the couch and struck his grandmother with his hand,” Spegar wrote in the affidavit.
Jones ordered his son to go to his bedroom. The boy heard both adults enter Vail’s bedroom.
“He then heard arguing and yelling by both his father and grandmother and heard what he described as ‘thuds,’” the affidavit says. “A short time later, his father entered his bedroom and laid in bed with him to ‘cuddle.’ After cuddling together, ... his father told him that he was sorry and that his grandmother had died.”
Together, they went into Vail’s bedroom, and the boy saw “several bumps” on her head.
“His father then told him that his grandmother was hunched over, and he believed she was going to vomit and he attempted to help her,” the affidavit says. “However, she fell over and struck her head and died. After observing his grandmother, (the boy) stated he and his father went back into his bedroom and went to sleep.”
Father apologized before suicide attempt
The next day, his father apologized and said he would kill himself by taking Xanax. Jones told the boy to call a friend named Larry “to come and get him” and laid down on a couch in the sun room, the affidavit says.
The boy tried to call Larry with his father's cell phone, but dialed Patricia Vail’s number “by accident.”
Because Jones hadn’t been arraigned as of Thursday afternoon, his preliminary hearing hadn’t been scheduled.
