Newly uncovered surveillance footage shows the final moments of a waitress as she walked home, shortly before she was killed with ‘perfect shot’ by a mystery assailant.
Katherine ‘Ketie’ Jones’ death in October, 2016, baffled police who said at the time they had no witnesses, no fingerprints and no motive for her murder.
Now, new video has emerged which could finally give investigators vital clues to her killing.
It shows the 26-year-old, known as Ketie to her friends, walking through the Plaza Midwood neighborhood, in Charlotte, North Carolina, at around 2am.
Newly uncovered surveillance footage shows the final moments Katherine ‘Ketie’ Jones as she walked home, shortly before she was killed with ‘perfect shot’ by a mystery assailant
Jones was killed with a single bullet wound to the chest in October 2016. She was 26, had no known enemies, no involvement in drugs, and was walking home ‘dancing and singing’, having spent time with friends after work when someone came up to her and killed her
She was returning home from Midwood Country Club in Charlotte where she had gone with friends after finishing her waitress job at Midwood Smokehouse.
Footage shows her ambling down the street, after she turned down a ride from a co-worker, as she made the mile-long walk back to her house, singing, dancing and sending her friends photos.
Video captures her turning onto Hamorton Place. Moments later, a red car backs down Hamorton Place after her.
Her body was found in the parking lot of a business on the corner of The Plaza and Hamorton Place the next morning.
Police have released the video in hopes it could provide them with a lead in the case they admit is still ‘wide open’. Anyone who recognizes the car or knows someone driving around the area at that time is urged to call.
Footage shows her ambling down the street, after she turned down a ride from a co-worker, as she made the mile-long walk back to her house, singing, dancing and sending her friends photos
Moments later, a red car backed down Hamorton Place after her
‘All I need is one good (lead),’ CMPD Deputy Chief Jeff Estes said.
‘There are no witnesses that have come forward,’ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Homicide Detective Shana Isenhour said.
‘Personally, I think somebody got out of the car and approached her…I think it was a complete surprise to her… Based on the video it doesn’t appear she would have time to defend herself,’ Isenhour told Crime Watch Daily.
Jones’ mother has also issued a plea for any witnesses to come forward.
‘I want the answers. I want justice for her. She doesn’t deserve to go into death not being known what happened. Her story is not finished. It needs to be finished,’ Ketie’s mother Jevona Livingston says.
Ketie’s mother, Jevona Livingston,has also issued a plea for any witnesses to come forward
Livingston says her happy go lucky daughter had no known enemies, no involvement in drugs, and was walking home ‘dancing and singing’, having spent time with friends after work when someone came up to her and killed her.
‘She was dancing and singing all the way down the road. Dancing and singing to her death. I hate to say it, but it is true.
‘She was even texting pictures to her friends in the minutes before she was shot.
‘She had been in a bar with her friends after finishing work in the BBQ restaurant where she was a waitress.
‘Police have said that from the moment she left the bar, they had it on camera.
‘They could tell from her energy that she was in a good place.’
She told DailyMail.com that her murder had left her without her ‘soul mate and best friend’.
Video courtesy WSOC
It was just after 2am when Jones walked home from Midwood Country Club in Charlotte where she had gone with friends after finishing work
Jones was a waitress at the critically acclaimed Charlotte restaurant, Midwood Smokehouse
The BBQ restaurant has been visited by both President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama’s pictures adorn the restaurant’s walls
But then, at 2.45am, in the darkness, she was murdered by a single gunshot.
A bullet to the chest ended her life after what police say was a struggle which also left her bruised on her left cheek, left elbow, left hip and left lower back.
Ketie’s body was found by a neighbor who believed he had heard a firework being discharged and had gone to investigate.
He found Ketie lying face down and thought she had tripped over on the sidewalk on the Plaza, behind the offices of a realtor.
It was clear immediately that it was not a robbery; she still had her cellphone and purse when her body was found.
Police could find nothing in her personal life: she had been single for some time following a split from her boyfriend, and lived for her cats.
Officers have spoken to her co-workers who were with her that evening, friends she had known for years and members of her family, but no solid clues have emerged.
They even investigated whether her murder could have been the result of a gang initiation in which a new member has to prove he – or she – has taken a life in order to be accepted.
But that too has drawn a blank.
Jones was walking down this road, Hamorton Place, when she had an encounter with an unknown assailant
Lt. Alex Watson of Charlotte police told DailyMail.com: ‘We are determined to get justice for her family. She was very well thought of and popular.
‘But we are not in a position to put this [murder] into any particular category.
‘We don’t know if she met somebody earlier that evening or was followed from the bar.
‘It is a tough one, but we are going to keep charging forward.’
Her mother struggled to hold back her tears as she recalled the daughter who was her ‘soul mate and best friend.’
Mrs. Livingston said: ‘Ketie was everybody’s best friend. She was such a gentle heart who never hurt anybody.
‘She was the type of girl who would take in stray cats and look after them. She also had two dogs. She was always taking in animals.
‘There was never any hint at all of any trouble from her or to her from anyone. She was a loving young woman.
‘I just cannot understand why this would happen to Ketie. She had no enemies that anybody knows of and she hadn’t been in any arguments.
Mrs. Livingston’s tears fell as she added: ‘I am suffering. Ketie was always the one that held me together. My mom passed in 2011 from cancer and I wouldn’t have made it through if it wasn’t for Ketie.
‘I literally laid in my bed for three weeks and I don’t normally drink, but I drank half a gallon of tequila because I found a bucket of it there.
Jones was found face down, with a single gunshot wound to the chest, behind this building, the Berry Hill Realty office
‘Ketie came over and said ‘Mama, I know you’re sad…I am sad too.
‘But I am damned if I am going to go through nanny stuff and now Mama stuff, so get up.’
Her loving daughter nursed and cajoled her mother through one of the most difficult periods of her life, she said.
‘She really was, in a strange sense, like my mom. She looked out for all of us, for me and her sister and her friends.
‘She was a remarkable woman. Ketie was the smartest person you could meet. She was phenomenal.’
In the days before her murder, Ketie had been trying to travel to Asheville in North Carolina to visit her mother for her birthday. But without a car she was unable to make the two hour journey.
Her work colleagues recall how she missed out on meeting former President Obama and losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when they made a campaign visit to their restaurant.
She was on a day off and merely shrugged her shoulders at not shaking hands with Obama. Pictures of his visit adorn the restaurant walls.
But Ketie’s friends and family have set up a fund to raise money for a scholarship in her memory.
She studied briefly at New York’s Marymount Manhattan College, but was unable to continue her drama course because of a lack of funds.
The 26-year-old lived near Hawthorne Lane and Central Avenue, where she was headed before she was shot and killed at 2:45am
A scholarship is being set up at the University of North Carolina to help a local student with a passion for the arts or drama who may have financial difficulties to attend classes.
The project has a target of $25,000 and has already passed $18,000 with a number of fund-raising events in Charlotte.
One of her best friends Brendan Coffey said: ‘Ketie would be beside herself seeing how the love and trust in our community strengthened in the face of losing her, instead of giving into despair, mistrust, and anger.
‘It’s very difficult to look past the meaninglessness of what happened to Ketie. I struggle to think of why and how this happened every day.
‘This project has helped by creating something meaningful to remember her, enrich the community she loved so much, and give deserving students the opportunity to pursue Ketie’s passions at UNC Charlotte.’
Her mother, speaking of her anger at Ketie’s killer said: ‘How could you? Who do you think you are?
‘She did everything she could to help everybody she could. She put her heart out there and she doesn’t deserve this.
‘We deserve to know if it was random or by somebody she knew.
‘It’s scary to think that with all these memorials… is this person around me? I don’t know.’
For more, tune in to Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen on Friday, January 12.
Anyone with information about the shooting or those involved are asked to call 704-432-TIPS or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
To donate to the scholarship fund go to the Ketie Memory Jones Arts Award.