Amber Kyzer dabbed tears from her eyes for most of her testimony Monday and sobbed at the death penalty trial of her ex-husband, charged with killing their five young children.
But then a prosecutor asked her to read a letter she wrote the oldest child, trying to comfort her over the divorce and the pain of suddenly being in a broken home.
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Amber Kyzer dabbed tears from her eyes for most of her testimony Monday and sobbed at the death penalty trial of her ex-husband, charged with killing their five young children.
"Oh god. Oh god. My babies. My babies," Kyzer cried as the judge rushed to get the jury out of the courtroom.
Jones, 37, is charged with five counts of murder. Jones' lawyers don't dispute that he killed the children. But they are trying to have him found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jones was arrested at a Smith County, Mississippi, traffic checkpoint, where an officer testified he recognized a strong odor coming from the car he recognized as "the smell of death."
"The voices started kicking in," Jones recalled thinking after finding the boy dead. "Saying 'you better do something, you are (expletive), Tim."
She testified she fell in love with Jones because he was smart, accomplished and appeared to have his life together. But she said after they married, he became rigid in his religion and demanding on her.
"You kids are my world and Mommy and Daddy were really blessed to have you," Kyzer said, pausing, then burying her head in her hands on the witness stand and breaking into heaving sobs.
CORRECTS TOWN TO COLUMBIA NOT LEXINGTON - Tim Jones looks around the courtroom during his trial in Columbia, S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing his 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP)
"Oh god. Oh god. My babies. My babies," Kyzer cried as the judge rushed to get the jury out of the courtroom.
Kyzer's ex-husband on trial for his life, Timothy Jones Jr., stood up and looked at her, but showed no emotion in footage of the trial being livestreamed from the Lexington County Courthouse.
Kyzer testified in the sixth day of Jones' death penalty trial.
Amber Jones cries from the witness stand while being questioned by 11th Circuit deputy Solicitor Suzanne Mayes during the trial of her ex husband, Tim Jones, Columbia S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing their 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP, Pool)
Jones, 37, is charged with five counts of murder. Jones' lawyers don't dispute that he killed the children. But they are trying to have him found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Prosecutors said he killed 6-year-old Nahtahn in a rage after finding the boy, fascinated by electricity, had broken an outlet in their home near Lexington in August 2014. Jones then strangled 8-year-old Mera and 7-year-old Elias with his hands and 2-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Abigail with a belt, prosecutors said.
After killing the children, authorities said Jones wrapped their bodies in plastic and put them in his SUV, driving aimlessly around the Southeast U.S. for most of nine days before leaving their bodies on a hilltop in Camden, Alabama.
CORRECTS TOWN TO COLUMBIA NOT LEXINGTON - State Judge Eugene Griffith pauses the trial as Tim Jones' ex-wife Amber Kyzer breaks down while testifying in Columbia, S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing their 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP, Pool)
Jones was arrested at a Smith County, Mississippi, traffic checkpoint, where an officer testified he recognized a strong odor coming from the car he recognized as "the smell of death."
Prosecutors called the pathologist who did autopsies on the children to the stand Monday, but refused to show pictures of the bodies. Defense attorneys wanted them shown because it might aid in Jones' insanity defense to show how badly decomposed the bodies were in the back of the SUV, but Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith refused.
Last week, prosecutors played Jones' confession to police. In it, he said he was angry at Nahtahn for breaking an electrical outlet and forced him to exercise for hours since he would not admit what he did and feared the 6-year-old was plotting to kill him. Jones said he found his son dead several hours later, although the pathologist testified it appeared the boy was killed by some kind of violence she could not pinpoint.
CORRECTS TOWN TO COLUMBIA NOT LEXINGTON - Tim Jones' ex-wife Amber Kyzer reacts to a photograph of her son while being questioned by 11th Circuit deputy solicitor, Suzanne Mayes, during the trail of Tim Jones, in Columbia, S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing their 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP, Pool)
"The voices started kicking in," Jones recalled thinking after finding the boy dead. "Saying 'you better do something, you are (expletive), Tim."
Kyzer's testimony Monday started with tears as she told the prosecutor the full name and dates of birth for all five of her children. Prosecutor Suzanne Mayes asked her why it was her first time in the courtroom during the trial.
"I can't handle it," Kyzer answered.
CORRECTS TOWN TO COLUMBIA NOT LEXINGTON - Tim Jones' ex-wife Amber Kyzer is questioned by 11th Circuit deputy solicitor Suzanne Mayes, during the trial of her ex-husband, Tim Jones, in Columbia, S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing their 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP, Pool)
She testified she fell in love with Jones because he was smart, accomplished and appeared to have his life together. But she said after they married, he became rigid in his religion and demanding on her.
"Women are to be seen and not heard. I was merely to take care of the children. To keep them out of his way," Kyzer said.
After they divorced, Kyzer allowed her husband custody of the children because he had a job that paid $80,000 as a computer engineer, and a car. She would get a ride to the Chick-After fil-A in Lexington to see them every Saturday under Jones' watchful gaze.
Tim Jones sits in court as his defense attorneys Rob Madsen, Casey Secor and Boyd Young confer during the trial of Tim Jones in Lexington, S.C., Monday, May 20, 2019. Timothy Jones, Jr. is accused of killing their 5 young children in 2014. Jones, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. (Tracy GlantzThe State via AP, Pool)
On Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, after no one had heard from her kids for nine days, Kyzer went to the restaurant as police watched. Jones never showed up.
The trial took a 30-minute break after Kyzer's sobs, and defense lawyer Boyd Young asked her only a few questions. She said Jones was a good father while they were married, but he seemed to start having mental problems after they divorced.
Jones' lawyers said in their opening statement Jones' mother has been in a mental institution for 20 years and he had undiagnosed schizophrenia. Then Jones' thin grasp on reality broken by his ex-wife's infidelity, the difficulty of raising five young children on his own and a feeling he was failing to live up to his religious beliefs.
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP . Read his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeffrey%20collins .
VENICE, Italy (AP) — Under the gaze of the world’s media, the fragile lagoon city of Venice launches a pilot program Thursday to charge day-trippers a 5-euro (around $5.35) entry fee that authorities hope will discourage visitors from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents.
Signs advising arriving visitors of the new requirement for a test phase of 29 days through July have been erected outside the main train station and other points of arrival.
Some 200 stewards have been trained to politely walk anyone unaware of the fee through the process of downloading a QR code. A kiosk has been set up for those not equipped with a smartphone. Once past designated entry ports, officials will carry out random checks for QR codes that show the day-tripper tax has been paid or that the bearer is exempt.
Transgressors face fines 50 euros to 300 euros. The requirement applies only for people arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Outside of those hours, access is free.
“We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents,’’ said the city’s top tourism official, Simone Venturini. “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”
Venice has long suffered under the pressure of over-tourism, but officials say that pre-pandemic estimates ranging from 25 million to 30 million visitors a year — including day-trippers — are not reliable and that the pilot project also aims to come up with more exact figures to help better manage the phenomenon.
By contrast, registered visitors spending the night last year numbered 4.6 million, according to city figures, down 16% from pre-pandemic highs.
Venturini said the city is strained when the number of day-trippers reaches 30,000 to 40,000. Its narrow alleyways are clogged with people and water taxis packed, making it difficult for residents to go about their business.
Not all residents, however, are persuaded of the efficacy of the new system in dissuading mass tourism, and say more attention needs to be paid to boosting the resident population and services they need.
Venice last year passed a telling milestone when the number of tourist beds exceeded for the first time the number of official residents, which is now below 50,000 in the historic center with its picturesque canals.
“Putting a ticket to enter a city will not decrease not even by one single unit the number of visitors that are coming,’’ said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized a protest Thursday against the measure.
“You pay a ticket to take the metro, to go to a museum, an amusement park; you don’t pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step of a project of an idea of this municipal administration to kick residents out of Venice,” he said.
Venturini said about 6,000 people had already paid to download the QR code, and officials expect paid day-tripper arrivals Thursday to reach some 10,000.
More than 70,000 others have downloaded a QR code denoting an exemption, including to work in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region. People staying in hotels in Venice, including in mainland districts like Marghera or Mestre, should also get a QR code attesting to their stay, which includes a hotel tax.
The tourist official says interest in Venice's pilot program has been keen from other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities and cities abroad such as Barcelona and Amsterdam.
Tourists take pictures at the St. Mark square in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Tourists ride on a ferry boat in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
People stand in front of an information board explaining how to pay the tourist tax in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Marco Bettini, director of Venis Informatics System, gestures as he talks to reporters at the police Venice control room, in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Venice councillor Simone Venturini speaks with reporters in front of a tourist tax totem in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers prepare banner explaining how to pay the tourist tax in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Marco Bettini, director of Venis Informatics System, gestures as he explains the Venice density to reporters at the police Venice control room in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Tourists arrive at the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers prepare the tourist tax cashier desks outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Porters wait for tourists outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers prepare the tourist tax cashier desks outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers prepare the tourist tax cashier desks outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Porters wait for tourists outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Tourists arrive outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Tourist information boards are seen outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Tourists arrive outside the main train station in Venice, Italy, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The lagoon city of Venice begins a pilot program Thursday, April 25, 2024 to charge daytrippers a 5 euro entry fee that authorities hope will discourage tourists from arriving on peak days. Officials expect some 10,000 people will pay the fee to access the city on the first day, downloading a QR code to prove their payment. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
