He returned to Miami in 1986 and worked as a groundskeeper and also sold drugs. Jones was arrested in 1989 for armed robbery and convicted of that offense when the murders that landed him in Florida's death row happened. Jones was let out of prison on condition release November 27, 1990 and hired December 18 by local business owner Jacob Nestor, who manufactured tools for plastic surgeons in the Sunshine State.

Just two days later, he stabbed Nestor, 67, and his wife Matilda, 66, at work. Matilda was stabbed in the back of the neck, cutting through her aorta. Her husband was stabbed in the chest, puncturing the heart. Before dying, he managed to get his gun and shoot Jones in the forehead, a painful but non-fatal injury. A UPS deliver man happened by, looked in the mail slot, and saw a man's limbs and blood on the floor. He went to a neighbor and called 911.

Police found Jones locked in the building, sitting on a blood-soaked couch, with the Nestors' wallets, keys, and other items in their pockets. Taken to a hospital for treatment, Jones admitted that he killed the Nestors because they owed him money.