Edwin Jones
An Atlantic City man accused of trying to kill his child's mother inside an apartment with his three young children was ordered held in jail Friday.
The 32-year-old victim, identified only as C.R., was shot in the face Jan. 28, and also suffered gunshot wounds to her hand and shoulder, the chief assistant prosecutor said. She remains hospitalized “fighting for her life.”
Edwin Jones, 39, is accused of shooting the mother of one child, and then enlisting the mothers of his other two children in helping to cover it up.
One of those women, 29-year-old Katie Harpel, is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension for her part in allegedly wiping down the apartment with bleach.
The mother of a third child — who the state would not identified publicly — drove the victim to the hospital in a white Audi, and then immediately drove back to the apartment.
Police Department surveillance personnel tracked the car to the apartment building at 3 S. Iowa Ave., across the street from the Public Safety Building.
There was blood on the vehicle, in the front entrance of the building and in the elevator, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Allison Eiselen told the judge.
Harpel told police that “Eddie” called her at 2 a.m. and asked her to come to the fourth-floor apartment owned by the victim, according to information given at her detention hearing last week.
“She did not ask questions about why she was being summoned at 2 in the morning or what was going on,” her attorney, John Bjorklund, said during her hearing. “She stated that she does not ask Jones questions because she does not want to be involved in anything.”
“Jones told her to put the kids to bed, and that’s when she heard police knocking on the door,” Bjorklund said. “That’s when she asked Jones what he had done.”
Jones yelled at police and ran into a ballistic shield, Eiselen said, as Jones vigorously shook his head no.
He appeared at the hearing virtually from a room in the jail.
The apartment smelled of bleach, the floor was wet and there was blood spatter, according to the charges.
A witness said that Jones was throwing thing out a window, Eiselen said.
Police then found a gun inside a sock on a roof adjacent to a window in the apartment, she said.
Jones’ attorney argued against the charge of attempted murder, noting that there were six people in the apartment, but only his client was charged with the first-degree crime.
“We don’t know where the intent is,” attorney Andrew Imperiale said. “It’s all being put on my client without any support.”
Eiselen noted that three of the apartment’s occupants were children, including an infant.
Jones has a criminal history that includes five prior indictable convictions, including an aggravated assault on a corrections officer.
As a result, he is a certain person not allowed to legally own a firearm. He also could face life in prison if convicted of the first-degree charge.
Because of that, the presumption was to detain him pretrial, which Judge Jorge Coombs did.
Katie Harpel reacted throughout her hearing.Harpel, whose attorney described her as cooperative with the investigation, was released by Judge Pam D’Arcy last week on home detention.
She lives in Atlantic City, although police originally listed her as being from Somers Point.
Harpel was emotional throughout her hearing, crying several times.
She has struggled with drugs, but completed rehabilitation at John Brooks and has been clean for a little less than a year, her attorney told the judge.
“I think her biggest problem was getting involved with drugs, and getting involved with Mr. Jones,” Bjorklund said.
When she was ordered to home detention, Harpel tearfully asked the judge if there would be provisions for her to visit her son, which she was told could be set up with the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
D’Arcy said she could.
All three children are in separate resource homes, Eiselen said Friday.
