Man who confessed after 21 years to leaving woman he killed in a suitcase pleads not guilty

BESSEMER, Ala. – A man who confessed to killing a woman and leaving her body in a suitcase in 2001 pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

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AL.com reported that Brian Edward Jones showed up unexpectedly in 2022 and confessed to Bessemer police that he had slain Janet Jones Luxford, 41, in 2001 and left her body in a suitcase. Police said he took them to a remote area where he left the body, which had gone undetected until he took them there. They discovered skeletal remains, according to WTVM.

Jones said that he waited so long to confess to the crime because he didn’t want to disappoint his parents, who died in 2021, AL.com reported. The Jefferson County coroner’s office took possession of the remains and is conducting tests to positively identify the body. Police said they are going ahead with the prosecution.

Jones told police that the killing was accidental after the couple had a fight in a Bessemer, Alabama, hotel. He had met Luxford at a hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, where she worked and where Jones, a truck driver, was staying, AL.com said.

Jones is charged with murder and abuse of a corpse. He is being held in Jefferson County Jail on $765,000 bond.