Suspected Killer From Same County as Missing Coach Travis Turner Still MIA 9 Years Later

The family of a woman whose suspected killer disappeared from the same county as missing high school football coach Travis Turner is asking questions on the anniversary of her disappearance. 

Nine years ago, Janina Jefferson was allegedly shot to death by her estranged husband, Eric Jones, at her job ​​at the Appalachia Water Treatment Plant. Jefferson’s death came shortly after she finalized divorce papers to officially end her marriage to Jones. 

Jones went on the run after the alleged murder and has not been heard or seen from since.  The suspected murderer’s case was handled by the Wise County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police, the same organizations responsible for tracking the whereabouts of missing coach Turner, who disappeared from his home in Wise County, Virginia on November 20. 

Turner, 46, was last seen walking into the woods behind his home while carrying a rifle. Days after he went missing, he was charged with five counts of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. 

“It is very upsetting and it does make us question how this is happening,” Jefferson’s niece, Brooke, told The U.S. Sun in a story published on Saturday, December 20. 

Brooke added, “We don’t want to necessarily disrespect anyone who’s actively working on the [Turner] case, but it is a little questionable how these people keep getting away so easily and never being seen again.”

“It is really hard to do with all these people in the world and their faces getting plastered all over the internet,” Brooke said. “It’s like, how can nobody see them? How can nobody have a sighting of them out of all of these people in all of these places?”

Brooke said her aunt’s case “went national for a bit,” just like Turner’s, but public interest began to wane over time. 

“He was posted on America’s Most Wanted and it does make us wonder how in the world have they just slipped through the cracks like that,” she said. “It is upsetting and it is concerning.” Brooke said all of the attention thrust upon the Turner case has been “super frustrating” for her family.

“It feels like emotions are more towards anger now,” she explained. “And I think a lot of that is coming from the Travis Turner case and how much attention it’s got. And not that we don’t think that those victims deserve justice, because we do. We 100 percent think they deserve justice. But, [police] can work on multiple cases at a time, and justice doesn’t expire. So, we’re just kind of agitated.”

Wise County Sheriff Grant Kilgore told WCYB that the Jefferson case is still on his mind all the time.

“As a reminder I keep [Jones’] wanted poster up right here on my desk so that I can see it every day and I want the family to know that because it happened on our watch and we’re going to do everything we can, in our power, to bring Eric to justice,” Kilgore said earlier this month. 

As for the search for Turner, the Virginia State Police said their investigation into his disappearance remains ongoing.