Trial begins, 2 years after Chesapeake man's slaying

CHESAPEAKE

Olive Bruce "BJ" Jones Jr. lived a quiet life. He died quietly, too.

His body, with a bullet through the brain, lay undiscovered in his Deep Creek auto-repair shop for as long as a week in December 2008. Little public attention was paid to news of his violent death. His newspaper obituary ran three short sentences.

It was more than a year later before a grand jury indicted a Western Branch man in Jones' death. Keith Alan Bradshaw, who told police he considered Jones "family," was also indicted on charges of robbing Jones and forging the checks stolen from him.

And almost another year after that, Bradshaw's case is coming to trial. Jury selection began Friday, with testimony to begin today and last a week or longer.

That's a surprise to some who knew Jones and wondered what was happening with his case.

"It's like the murder that never happened," said John Edwards, who now runs his own garage in Jones' old location at 2911 S. Military Hwy.

For months after Jones' death, longtime customers would come by, saying nice things about him, Edwards said.

"He was a terrific guy," said Jones' landlady of several years, Mary Johnson. "He didn't deserve that. If they wanted something, he would have given it to them."

Jones, known to friends as Bruce or BJ, was 57. He had two grown daughters, grandchildren and a reputation for being a good and fair mechanic, friends said.

Roger Williams, who operates a crabbing, recycling and towing business across the street, recently called Jones his best friend. They hunted deer together and did work for each other.

Williams rapped the fender of the black SUV next to him. When Williams had a quick chance to buy it for hunting, Jones loaned him the $2,500.

"No handshake - that's how well we knew each other," Williams said.

That's why he noticed when Jones' pickup sat uncharacteristically in the same spot several days in a row. When another friend spotted the keys inside and the doors unlocked, Williams said, he just knew - and blurted out, "Bruce is dead."

The two went to Jones' shop. Jones' black-and-white dog was running around inside. The friend hopped a back fence and entered through a back door, spotted Jones' feet in the bathroom and ran out screaming, Williams said. Williams forced himself to check his friend, although his nose told him Jones had been dead a long time.

The shop had been vandalized, the money box overturned and several guns stolen from a rack.

"They wore him out every way they could," Williams said. "He always had $2,000 in his pocket."

Jones had $47.80 on him when found.

"I was just hurt. He helped so many people," Williams said.

Police investigators began digging. They talked to friends and others. They pulled bank security videos, cell phone records and even pizza-delivery orders to determine who was where and when, according to court documents.

Forensic experts tried to match several weapons to the bullet that killed Jones and checked for DNA, even from one man's tooth.

Bradshaw, 39, came to police in fall 2009, according to interviews in the court file. In jail on other charges, he said he was looking for a deal to get out on probation. He said he knew who killed Jones - he was there when it happened, and blamed another acquaintance.

But Detective James Thomas pointed out discrepancies in his story, how times didn't match up, and let him know police had him and the other man on video cashing Jones' stolen checks.

The grand jury indicted Bradshaw in February. John James McMahon, 48, faces related check-forging charges at his Feb. 7 trial.

Edwards, in Jones' old shop, recalled how a few months after the killing a man in a large SUV came by, saying he wanted a tune-up. He asked to "use the head" - and stared a long time at the floor where Jones had been found.

He left, wordlessly, with tears in his eyes.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-5221, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com