New charges added in Jackson County murder case

The Jackson County prosecutor’s office is adding new charges in the case of a Missouri woman accused of a plot to kill her mother’s husband in Jackson County in 2022.

30-year-old Ashley N. Jones of Bellflower, Missouri, was arrested last year on preliminary charges including murder, attempted murder and burglary. According to the sheriff’s department, the state is adding two counts of attempted murder, and the life imprisonment without parole enhancement to the case against Jones.

Harold Allen died in December of 2022 after being poisoned with ethylene glycol. The investigation into Jones and her mother Marsha Allen began last year. Police searched Allen’s cell phone and uncovered evidence that she and Jones had plotted together to poison the man.

New evidence comes from a search of Jones e-mail address after a warrant was served against Apple. The emails confirm that in November 2022 Jones ordered five dried Pong Pong seeds. The seeds produce a toxin that can be used to interfere with the heart and have been used in suicides. Further, in December Jones ordered hemlock, the most dangerously toxic plant that grows in North America.

Authorities say that the email evidence further shows that Jones and Allen used the toxins in food and drinks prepared for Harold Allen.

Jones allegedly confessed last year that she ordered ethylene glycol off of the internet and that Marsha Allen had used it in Harold Allen’s drink to poison him. Marsha Allen has also since died.