198. Looks Like Yoga Didn't Do It - The Botched Dana Jones Investigation

If you look up the March 3, 2014 death of 50 year-old interior designer Dana Jones in the official records of the Long Beach, California Police Department, you’ll see that the case is considered closed, and Jones’ death listed as accidental – a contention backed up by the coroner.  According to Dana Jones’ husband, Cain Finn “Huck” Jones, he took the dog out for a walk on the morning of March 3, and when he returned from the walk he discovered Dana, crumpled on the floor from an injury to the back of the head after slipping during a headstand while practicing yoga.  Dana was rushed to the hospital in a coma but never regained consciousness before passing away.  The problem is, Huck’s story seemed a bit out of whack to Dana’s friends and family – particularly Dana’s sister, Lisa – who has remained Dana’s champion and advocate for justice ever since.  For one thing, Dana was an experienced yoga practitioner who knew what she was doing.  And even a miscue during a headstand should never have caused the severity of the wound to the back of Dana’s head – or any wound in the location it was positioned.  Moreover, Dana’s husband Huck had filled the house with cameras (for security, he claimed, although there were plenty of Dana’s friends who believed Huck had them installed to keep an eye on her).  And the room where the “accident” took place was one of the very few rooms without a camera.  Plus there were inconsistencies with the timeline, the placemen and many questions about trouble within Dana and Huck’s marriage.  Devotees of the True Crime genre know what happens next:  Homicide detectives go first to the people closest to the victim – in this case, Huck – and hammer down on every single possibility that he may be the primary suspect.  Long hours of questioning.  A search warrant that focuses on every speck of dust in the house.  And never clear the husband until every single lead has been run down.  Except.  Well…  A detective showed up all right.  A detective with a drinking problem and an attitude of not wanting to do the necessary work.  A detective who decided within a few short hours that Huck was completely innocent simply because the presence of cameras would have prevented him from even trying.  Wait.  What?  The subsequent “investigation” was light on detail and Dana’s death was ruled accidental in relatively short order.  That’s when Lisa Jones, Dana’s sister, took charge.  In the seven years since Dana’s death, Lisa has taken on one of the most detailed investigations of any murder anyone has ever seen.  She has been unrelenting in forcing law enforcement, the press and anyone else who will listen to pay attention.  Her 2019 memoir, “Blunt Force Yoga,” makes a compelling argument for reopening the investigation into Dana’s death.  As Melissa points out in this episode, there is no statute of limitations for the crime of murder.  And someone, somewhere, likely knows something – even a little speck of information – that might bring justice and finality to this horribly botched investigation.