Friends: Bethel mom was ‘sunshine’ failed by ‘broken system
Traci-Marie Jones sought restraining order against her estranged husband who Tuesday killed her and himself
BETHEL — Traci-Marie Jones touched the lives of many, according to friends and loved ones, who are devastated by her death.
“Traci was just the sunshine of everybody’s day. If you had a problem, she knew how to talk you off the cliff and try to fix it,” said her close friend, Jenn Hadad, who met Jones in 1996, when they were hairdressers at the C&C Unisex Hair Design salon in Danbury.
On Tuesday, Jones, a 52-yearold mother of three, was killed in a murder-suicide at her Reservoir Street home. Her estranged husband, 58-year-old Lester Jones, against whom she had applied for a restraining order just two weeks prior, died by suicide, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
As Hadad grieves, she and other friends said not enough was done to protect Traci-Marie Jones, who had told police her husband repeatedly threatened her life, according to her application for a temporary restraining order obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.
“I understand the police’s hands are almost tied as far as what to do in domestic violence, but she needed help,” Hadad said. “We have a broken system and we need to fix it.”
Bethel Police Capt. Heather Burnes said officers responded to Jones’ Reservoir Street residence late Tuesday after receiving a report of hearing “screams” in the road. Inside the home, Burnes said they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said TraciMarie Jones was the victim of a homicide, while Lester Jones died by suicide.
At the time of her death, Traci-Marie Jones — a 1989 Henry Abbott Technical High School graduate — worked at Bethel Health Care & The Cascades Assisted Living and as a hair stylist and colorist at the Brittany Shears salon in Bethel.
Amanda Kovatch described her friend as an energetic, compassionate and strong-willed person and “an extremely talented hairdresser.”
“She lit up the room when she walked in and had a way of making those around her feel good,” said Kovatch, who met Jones at the C&C salon. “She was one of a kind.”
Restraining order
Friends said they knew TraciMarie Jones had been unhappy in her marriage.
“Traci didn’t hide her struggles within her marriage, but she certainly didn’t blast them for the world to know,” said Kovatch. “She’d confide in her friends — people she could trust.”
Hadad said there was a time when things weren’t bad.
“Lester and Traci met when they were teenagers and the love that they shared for each other was just beyond,” she said. “Up until a few years ago, if you asked about Lester, she would glow brighter than the sun on the ground.”
Declining to go into detail for the sake of the couple’s children, Hadad said “different things happened over the years that … unfortunately made that feeling go away.”
Court records show TraciMarie Jones was trying to distance herself from her spouse of more than two decades at the time of her death.
In a Jan. 17 application she filed for an ex-parte restraining order, Traci-Marie Jones reported being verbally and emotionally abused by her husband, who she said often screamed in her face and threatened her life. She said one of her husband’s fantasies involved shooting her to death and she lived in “constant fear.”
One week before Tuesday’s murder-suicide, Lester Jones was arrested by New York State Police on first-degree criminal contempt and second-degree harassment
charges after threatening to kill his wife in a harassing phone call to her Bethel home, according to police.
New York State Police said Lester Jones had been living outside Saratoga in upstate New York and the incident violated the woman’s court order against him. He was issued a ticket and scheduled to appear in court Jan. 25.
The ex-parte restraining order against Lester Jones expired Jan. 24, but a six-month restraining order was issued, which he violated seven days later when he showed up at Traci-Marie Jones’ Reservoir Street home Tuesday night.
Bethel police — who have not said what may have happened in the moments leading up to the murder-suicide nor identified
the individuals involved — said officers responded to the home around 11:50 p.m. and found a woman and man suffering from gunshot wounds. They said the woman was pronounced dead inside the home and the man later died at Danbury Hospital.
Hadad said she wishes more protection had been afforded to her friend.
“I believe the Bethel town police, as well as other organizations in the local area failed her,” Kovatch said. “I hope it doesn’t take more tragedies like this for police departments, courts and other organizations to make changes on how to better handle these cases.”
She said restraining orders are not enough.
“Restraining orders are not an effective way to protect the
victim,” Kovatch said. “A person with a restraining order is not allowed to have guns. He had guns.”
She left an ‘incredible imprint’
Hadad said her longtime friend knew how to lift people up and make them feel important.
“She had that charisma in her to let you know you deserve better,” she said. “Life is too short to settle, and she never wanted you to settle for less than what you were worth.”
Kovatch echoed that sentiment.
“Traci touched the lives of so many people,” Kovatch said. “I hope she’s looking down upon us in awe of the incredible imprint she left on so many.”