Black Charged with Murder for Stabbing White Girlfriend to Death

KJ Online
November 22, 2013

49488-Jillian Jones 2
Jillian Jones. Her friends described her as ‘a beautiful, caring, dynamic young lady’ whose ‘laughter, smiles and enlightening interactions in the class room and on our clinic floor, will always live within our walls.’

State police charged an Augusta man with murder tonight in connection with the stabbing death of 24-year-old Jillian Jones. Justin Pillsbury, 38, was taken into custody as he was being released from MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, where he had been treated for what police described as self-inflicted stab wounds. He was taken to the Kennebec County jail and is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday or Tuesday, according to a press release from Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland.

On Wednesday, police were called to 32 Crosby St., where they found Jones dead and Pillsbury injured. Neighbors reported the couple had been fighting, but no one thought it was serious enough to call police. On Friday, friends remembered Jones as a woman who was trying to better her life and the life of her daughter, Brooklyn. It was a simple dream, but it was all Jones wanted.

49488-pillsbury
Justin G Pillsbury. He thought he heard her talking on the phone to another man, so he stabbed her in the ear, the neck and the chin, and then stabbed himself a few times to try to get some sympathy.

“She wanted Brooklyn to be happy,” said Jones’ lifelong friend, Kassandra Strickland of Richmond. “She wanted a life with her daughter.” Two days after the murder, Jones’ friends were still coming to grips with the loss of the woman they say lived for her daughter and brought a smile to anyone who met her.

“There’s so many people that are hurting right now,” Strickland said. “We love her.” Jones grew up in Bingham, graduating from Valley High School in 2008. Jones was studying to be a beautician in Waterville, state police said in a Thursday news release. “She was so happy to be back in school,” Strickland said.

Read More