A husband and wife were arrested and charged in the murder of an East Nashville woman.
Employees of the Park Center, which manages housing for persons with mental health and addiction issues, found 45-year-old Shay L. Jones dead Monday morning. Another resident of Park Center notified management when they weren't able to contact Jones.
They found Jones beside a bed with a cord around her neck and tied to a bedpost. Jones had died days earlier, and the scene had an initial appearance of possible suicide. However, Jones' car was missing.
Birmingham police found 31-year-old Kayla Burroughs in the victim’s 2002 Honda Accord later that day after a citizen in Birmingham reported hearing Burroughs talk about a murder. She was detained.
During an interview in Birmingham late Monday night, she admitted to Metro police officers that Jones was murdered.
Burroughs said that during the latter part of April, she, her husband, 36-year-old Joshua Burroughs and Jones used drugs together.
Kayla Burroughs said she and her husband decided to blackmail and/or rob Jones of jewelry and her vehicle, and that when Jones resisted, Joshua Burroughs struck her in the face, tied a cord around her neck and strangled her.
She had driven the Honda Accord to Birmingham from George County, Mississippi, where Joshua Burroughs was arrested for DUI while driving the car on April 25.
Detectives tried to interview Joshua Burroughs in Mississippi Friday. He declined to talk with them. Warrants were issued in Nashville charging Joshua and Kayla Burroughs with criminal homicide.
They were being held in Mississippi and Alabama as fugitives and will be returned to Nashville in the coming days.
