Jones and Tiller committed their crimes at the same time and in the same region as Girvies Davis and Richard Holman.

At the time of the 1979 murder, Jones was on parole after serving 4 years and three months of a 4 to 12-year sentence for armed robbery.

Stoltz, a World War II veteran, was in the back of a pickup truck, stacking bricks.

When Stoltz tried to raise his hands in surrender, Tiller shot him in the left eye, killing him.

[6] Tiller's cousin, Lori Elem, who was also Jones's girlfriend, witnessed the robbery-slaying and would later testify at their trials.

[7] Afterwards, Jones told Tiller "Man, you shot the shit out of that honky," to which he replied, "I mean business.

[10] Prior to Tiller's trial, he filed a motion to have the murder charge relating to Stoltz's death severed since it was a separate offense.

The Supreme Court of Illinois ordered for Tiller to be given a sentence other than death, saying it was not proven that he intended for Nersesian or Brown to die.

However, they upheld his murder convictions on the grounds that Tiller knew that Jones might hurt them and did nothing to stop that from happening.

On January 11, 2003, Jones's sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole after Governor George Ryan granted blanket clemency to all 167 people on death row in Illinois over his growing concerns over capital punishment.