Attorney General's News Release

March 29, 2005

State Supreme Court sets April 27 execution date for man who stabbed grandmother to death for drug money

Jefferson City, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court has set an April 27 execution date for Donald Jones, 38, convicted of the March 1993 stabbing death of his grandmother in St. Louis after she refused to give him money to buy drugs. The office of Attorney General Jay Nixon represented the state against Jones' appeals.

Around midnight on March 6, 1993, Jones went to the home of his grandmother, Dorothy Knuckles, to get money to buy crack cocaine. When she refused and began lecturing Jones on his use of drugs and alcohol, he went downstairs to the kitchen and picked up a butcher block and knives. When Knuckles resumed her lecturing, Jones struck her several times with the block. When Knuckles began to scream, Jones stabbed her repeatedly to silence her.

Jones then stole his grandmother's VCR, what money he could find, and her car keys. He later sold the VCR and rented out the car to get money to buy drugs. Knuckles' body was discovered the next morning by her son.

Upon questioning by St. Louis homicide detectives, Jones gave an audiotape statement of the details of the murder. A St. Louis City Circuit Court jury found Jones guilty of first-degree murder on June 16, 1994, and recommended that he be sentenced to death two days later.

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