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Zackary Keith Jones (Pulaski County Jail)
A 34-year-old man in Kentucky is facing a slew of felonies after authorities say they found a 16-year-old girl from North Carolina — who had been reported missing nearly a month ago — hidden inside a trap door in his bedroom that had been covered with a rug.
Zackary Keith Jones was taken into custody on Christmas Day and charged with third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, assault, strangulation, domestic assault of a minor, sex with a minor, and false imprisonment, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Charlotte, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WCNC, deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 25 responded to a domestic violence call at a home in the 1400 block of Robertstown Road. The caller, identified as Jones’ mother, told the dispatcher that her son and his “girlfriend” had been in an altercation.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they encountered Jones, who told them his girlfriend was no longer home. However, Jones’ mother told deputies that the girl had never left the property, Raleigh, North Carolina NBC affiliate WRAL reported.
Deputies said they then saw Jones attempting to destroy drugs and drug paraphernalia by tossing everything into a wood stove in his bedroom, according to Lexington, Kentucky, NBC affiliate WLEX. Jones was then taken into custody and placed in the back of a sheriff’s cruiser while deputies searched the home for the female.
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“Officers found her inside a trap door that was hidden under a rug in the bedroom,” the affidavit reportedly states. The document also reportedly said that the missing teen was “very high” when she was discovered in the hidden compartment.
The girl reportedly told deputies on the scene that she was the same girl who had been reported missing from Fayetteville, North Carolina, earlier in the month.
In an interview with police, the girl said she and Jones met online where he claimed that he was 19 years old, WLEX reported. He then picked her up from her grandmother’s house in North Carolina and brought her back to Kentucky. She reportedly said that when she got back to his home in Kentucky, she learned that he was 34 and he demanded that she tell his family she was 18 or he would “take a 22-pistol and kill her.” He reportedly made similar threats multiple times.
The victim also reportedly claimed that she and Jones were pulled over on their way from North Carolina to Kentucky. During the traffic stop, she said Jones told her he was going to shoot the deputy who performed the stop if he told them to get out of the vehicle.
In a post-Miranda interview with detectives, Jones admitted to having sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old at least 10 times and to giving her drugs such as crack cocaine and marijuana, WRAL reported.
Jones is currently being held in the Pulaski County Jail without bond. He will reportedly also face multiple criminal charges in North Carolina. Those charges had not been filed as of Friday.
