WILDWOOD, N.J. — A 61-year-old Wildwood woman is in the Cape May County Correctional Facility charged with second-degree manslaughter, accused of pushing a man off a porch in October after he refused to give her an alcoholic drink — a fall of about six feet that, investigators say, left him with a fractured skull from which he died three weeks later. Lisa Jones was charged on Thursday, November 5, Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy announced.
Source: Cape May County Prosecutor's Office via Englebrook Independent News
The man who died was Edward Evans. He was injured on the night of October 6 outside the multi-dwelling home at 129 E. Pine Avenue in Wildwood, according to the affidavit of probable cause, obtained and reported by the Fideri News Network through Cape May Daily. Evans died on October 31 at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, where he had been flown to the Trauma Unit after first being treated at the scene.
Source: Cape May Daily (Fideri News Network)
What investigators allege happened is this. Jones asked Evans for an alcoholic drink and he refused, according to the affidavit. She is accused of then pushing him off the porch; he fell about six feet, struck his head on the sidewalk and lost consciousness. The allegation is drawn from the affidavit of probable cause: it has not been tested in court, and Jones is presumed innocent unless and until she is proven guilty.
Source: Affidavit of probable cause via Cape May Daily
A witness told police what happened in the moments after the fall. "You didn't see anything! You didn't see anything!" Jones yelled as she ran into her upstairs apartment, the witness said, according to the affidavit. Jones lives in the 100 East block of Pine Avenue, prosecutors said — the same street as the home where Evans fell.
Source: Affidavit of probable cause via Cape May Daily
What Jones told police — and what the affidavit says changed
Jones first told police she had been cooking upstairs and had no involvement in the incident, the affidavit states. The next day, interviewed again, she admitted pushing Evans, according to the report. "Jones stated that she got scared, and fled to her apartment, failing to render aid to Evans," Detective James Stevens wrote in the affidavit, as reported by Cape May Daily. Those statements are the prosecution's account as recorded in the affidavit; Jones has not entered a plea in the reporting available so far.
Source: Cape May Daily (Fideri News Network)
Evans never recovered. He died on October 31, with the cause of death listed as multiple blunt-force injuries with subdural hematoma and skull fracture, determined to be a result of the fall allegedly caused by Jones, according to the affidavit reporting. He would have turned 71 the week after the charge was announced, Cape May Daily reported, based on the funeral notice published by Evoy Funeral Home.
Source: Cape May Daily
The charge, and what happens next
The charge followed a joint investigation by the Wildwood Police Department and the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office, which continued for a month after the fall — first while Evans fought his injuries in hospital, then after his death on October 31 turned the inquiry into a death investigation. Jones was arrested on Thursday, November 5, and has appeared by video from the Cape May County Correctional Facility, where she remains held while awaiting a detention hearing set for Thursday, November 12.
Source: Cape May County Prosecutor's Office via Cape May Scanner
What is solid
- Jones, 61, of Wildwood was charged on November 5 with second-degree manslaughter, announced by Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Police Chief Joseph Murphy.
- Edward Evans was injured in a fall at 129 E. Pine Ave. on October 6 and died on October 31 at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center.
- A conviction for a second-degree crime in New Jersey carries five to ten years in state prison, the prosecutor's office said.
- The investigation by Wildwood police and the prosecutor's office is ongoing.
What is only claimed
- Evans's age: the prosecutor's releases describe a 72-year-old man, while Cape May Daily's affidavit-based reporting says Evans would have turned 71 the week after the charge — the two accounts differ by about a year.
- The claim that Jones pushed Evans after he refused her a drink comes from the affidavit of probable cause. It is an allegation, not a finding, and Jones is presumed innocent.
Wildwood is a small shore city in Cape May County, better known to most New Jersey families for its boardwalk summers than for homicide cases; its year-round population is a fraction of its summer crowds, and Pine Avenue is a residential street of multi-unit homes a short walk from the beach blocks. For the Punjabi and South Asian families spread across New Jersey — one of the largest diaspora communities in the United States — the case is a reminder of how quickly an ordinary neighbourhood dispute can turn fatal, and how long the legal road runs afterward: a detention hearing first, then grand jury and trial proceedings in Cape May County Superior Court if the charge proceeds.
Source: Englebrook Independent News
Lisa Jones has been charged, not convicted, and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Anyone with information about the October 6 incident is asked to contact the Wildwood Police Department at 609-522-0222 or the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office at 609-465-1135.