conviction of previous suspect During the investigation of these cases, detectives also reviewed similar solved cases. In doing so, the detectives found that David Allen Jones, 28, had been convicted of three murders in the same area where Turner was known to be operating, including Tammie Christmas, found strangled in September 1992 at the 97th Street Elementary School. Jones, a mentally disabled part-time janitor who was barely literate, was questioned without an attorney and admitted using drugs with the victims in the areas where their bodies were found. Rather than using these convictions as a basis for excluding Turner, the detectives revisited these "solved" murders and re-evaluated the physical evidence. The detectives found that Jones' 1995 trial had relied upon other evidence, including Jones' coerced statements to police, instead of DNA analysis. At the detectives' request, the LAPD Crime Laboratory processed the available evidence using the latest DNA applications. Although DNA analysis could not be used to reinvestigate the Christmas murder, prosecutors and police are confident that Jones is innocent of the Christmas murder and that Turner is the likely culprit. Jones had also been convicted of a rape unrelated to the murders during his trial. He had served out his sentence for the 2000 rape conviction. The new investigation revealed that the blood typing evidence did not match the blood types found in the crimes for which he spent eleven years in prison, and he was acquitted as a murderer. Jones was released from prison in March 2004 and has filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles (LA). Jones was awarded $720,000 in compensation. See also Southside Slayer List of serial killers in the United States List of serial killers by number of victims References 1966 births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American criminals African-American people American male criminals American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death American rapists American serial killers Criminals from Los Angeles Living people Male serial killers People convicted of murder by California People from Bradley County, Arkansas Prisoners sentenced to death by California Violence against women in the United States