Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Eric James Jones of Havre, 25, died Friday after committing suicide in the Hill County Detention Center. Jones was being held on a charge of deliberate homicide stemming from the beating death of Kimberly Calf Boss Ribs March 15, 2008. Jones was scheduled to go to trial on April 13. Sheriff Don Brostrom said this morning that at 1:03 p.m. Friday a detention officer requested help with an attempted suicide, and sheriff’s deputies and other on-duty detention center staff responded. A City of Havre emergency medical team transported Jones by ambulance to the local hospital. Jones was pronounced dead at the hospital. Bros t rom said the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation has been requested to investigate the incident and an agent has been assigned to the case. As required by Montana law, a civilian coroner from another jurisdiction has been requested to act as coroner. Fergus County Coroner R.J. “Dick” Brown will fulfill the duties of coroner, Brostrom said. An inquest will be conducted at a later date. According to court documents, Jones was arrested after an investigation of the death of Calf Boss Ribs at a shop west of North Havre on March 15. According to the document, Havre emergency medical technicians and Hill County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call at about 11 p.m. Saturday from a location on River Road North reporting a woman who had been beaten up was lying on the floor of a shop. Emergency medical technicians told deputies when they arrived that the woman was dead. A witness later told investigating officers that Jones and the victim, Calf Boss Ribs, had dated at one time. A deputy entered the scene and observed a woman lying face down on the concrete floor in a large pool of what appeared to be blood, the document said. She was missing her shoes and shirt and appeared to have severe trauma around the head. The deputy also observed a metal object which had a red stain that appeared to be Blood and was sitting in what appeared to be a pool of blood, the document said. A Burlington Northern Santa Fe employee at about 11:15 p.m. reported to the Havre Police Department that a man in a white van was trespassing on railroad property near the scene of the incident, the document said. The trespasser fled when approached by BNSF employees and they were unable to follow him, the document said. The white van was registered to Jones, the document said. At about 3 a.m. that morning, Havre police officers located Jones at a east Havre residence, the document said. Jones resisted the officers, who arrested him on charges of violating a protective order, unrelated to the death of Calf Boss Ribs, and resisting arrest, the document said. Officers seized a pile of clothing, shoes and a cell phone near the bed at the time of his arrest where they found Jones, the document said. They noticed that the clothing and shoes and the bed appeared to have blood on them.
