Investigators are alleging that a distinguished professor from the Naval Postgraduate School shot his ex-wife before dismembering her body at his Monterey home neighboring the campus.
Police late last week arrested Lawrence R. Jones, 69, on suspicion of killing his ex-wife, Norife Herrera Jones, 29, following their recent divorce. Norife Herrera Jones, a native of the Philippines, resided in San Jose.
Hikers discovered her body Sept. 7 in a wooded area off Cannon Road near Aromas. After conducting an autopsy and searching Lawrence Jones’ home in the 100 block of Spray Avenue, detectives concluded that the Naval Postgraduate School professor killed her at the residence before dumping her body near Aromas, about a 30-minute drive from his home.
Initially, authorities with the Monterey Police Department and San Benito County Sheriff’s Office declined to verify the cause of death or other details from the crime scene.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Monterey Police Department noted that the victim “died as a result of gunshot wounds and was then dismembered,” while adding that no other information would be released at this time.
San Benito County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Lamonica followed up by declining to comment on any new details in the case.
Monterey police spokeswoman Lt. Leslie Sonne also declined to comment and did not respond to questions about the gun and whether there was evidence of abuse before the shooting.
The Monterey Police Department is leading the investigation because authorities believe Jones killed her at the Spray Avenue home. San Benito County authorities launched the probe after the body’s discovery near Aromas, within San Benito County lines.
Police recommended a homicide charge this week against the 25-year professor who is suspected of killing his ex-wife following a recent divorce and five years of marriage. Jones’s arraignment in Monterey County courts was put off until next week.
According to a statement, detectives a week ago worked “through the night” and located the suspect in Southern California.
Sonne earlier in the week said Monterey detectives were “playing catch-up” with the work already conducted by the San Benito sheriff’s investigators. Some of the background work will include review of Jones’s 25-year history at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He worked his way up from a professor job in 1987 to being a distinguished professor and an “area chair” for financial management, according to his biography information posted on the NPS website.
Jones, whose academic research has focused on public sector finance and management, has written more than 100 journal articles and book chapters on related topics and has published 14 books, according to staff information for the Asia Pacific Governance Institute, one of a handful of institutions where Jones has current affiliations.
The Naval Postgraduate School had no official comment on the arrest and its spokeswoman deferred questions to authorities.
It appears as though all of the victim’s family members live in the Philippines.
