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Preliminary hearing for alleged stabbing waived

Why did accused killer Monica Latoya Burns allegedly stab to death Ryan “Jonesy” Jones inside an apartment at the Timberland Apartments on Lycoming Street during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day?

That question, and countless others, remained unanswered Wednesday after the 30-year-old Loyalsock Township woman waived her preliminary hearing to city police charges of criminal homicide and related offenses.

Investigators alleged that Burns, of 1686 Randall Circle, stabbed Jones during a party inside Jada Hiller’s apartment at 610 Lycoming St shortly after 1 a.m. Agent Trent Peacock alleged in an affidavit.

Police interviewed “multiple witnesses” who admitted to being present inside the apartment and seeing a fight break out between Jones, 28, and another man in a bathroom.

“The fight between the two men escalated into multiple subjects engaging in the fight. During the fight, a woman, later identified as Burns, obtained a knife and stabbed Jones in chest,” Peacock said.

Police are not saying if Burns was among those actually involved in the fight herself or if she just suddenly injected herself after getting a hold of a knife.

Jones, a 2008 graduate of South Williamsport High School, fled the apartment after being stabbed, police said. He was found dead a little more than five hours later, about 6:30 a.m., behind the Williamsport Bureau of Fire headquarters at Lycoming and Walnut streets.

Surveillance cameras showed Jones, of South Williamsport, exiting Hiller’s apartment at 1:10 a.m. and running through the apartment complex, across Lycoming Street and heading towards fire headquarters.

An autopsy at the Lehigh Valley Hospital revealed that Jones, who enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2017, died of a single stab wound to the chest, according to investigators.

Burns fled to Philadelphia, where members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force apprehended her without incident on Jan. 9 on a city police warrant, charging her with Jones’ murder.

Since she was taken into custody and brought back here, Burns has refused to speak with investigators.

Wearing a prison uniform with a security belt wrapped around her waist, Burns was brought to the county courthouse on Wednesday morning for her hearing before District Judge Christian Frey.

Most preliminary hearings for those charged with homicide are held at the courthouse for security purposes. Burns was brought into a courtroom on the second floor.

Members of Jones’ family and several of his friends sat on one side of the courtroom while the family and supporters of Burns sat on the other.

Burns stood up and signed the court-issued form that she was waiving the hearing. She also signed two other papers, including a form that she also was waiving her court arraignment.

“Love you Monica, love you babe,” a number of those sitting in the courtroom called out to her as sheriff deputies quickly ushered her out of the room and returned her to the Lycoming County Prison, where she is being held without bail.

Burns will face further court action on charges of criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of an instrument of crime.

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