District attorney releases details surrounding the murder of a Dublin woman.
Updated: Jul 8, 2020
The circumstances surrounding the recent death of a Dublin woman reads like a made-for-TV movie; one that includes pornography, threats and revenge.
The body of 41-year-old Traci Leigh Jones was found inside a black 50-gallon Craftsman tote floating in a Kentucky lake on June 22.
A Granbury man, 60-year-old Jeffrey Kenneth Rogers, has been charged with Jones’ murder after telling investigators that he strangled her after spending the night with her at Holiday Inn in Stephenville.
Jones and Rogers appeared to have a complicated relationship that is outlined in the arrest complaint released by Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash.
According to the complaint, Jones, Jeffrey Rogers and his wife Tammy, a principal at Arlington ISD, engaged in the production of pornography with Circle V Entertainment.
When the relationship soured, Jones contacted attorney Heath Allen in April and told him that she feared the couple would harm her after she threatened to contact an NBC news affiliate in Fort Worth and Arlington ISD and expose the pornography and production company.
Two months later, Jones was dead.
STRANGE TWISTS
After Jones’ body was discovered, investigators interviewed Tammy Rogers who said her husband had continued to have sex with Jones and give her money even after she threated to ruin Tammy Rogers’ career.
“Tammy was upset that Jeffrey Rogers would still have sex with Jones, constantly paying her more and more money,” the complaint states.
Tammy Rogers told investigators that on June 16 Jeffrey Rogers traveled to Dublin to meet Jones.
She said Jeffrey Rogers didn’t respond to three texts messages she sent him that night and didn’t return home until early the next morning.
By then, investigators believe Jeffrey Rogers had already killed Jones after leaving the Holiday Inn.
After Jeffrey Rogers returned home on June 17, the couple loaded a pickup and headed to Kentucky to visit family with Jones’ body in the back.
Surveillance video in Burleson, Texas captured the pickup traveling with a large black container in the back – the same container that Jones’ body was later discovered in.
The next day – June 18 – Jeffrey Rogers rented a pontoon boat in Tennessee and additional surveillance footage taken at a marina appeared to show him loading the container onto the boat, according to the complaint.
Investigators believe that’s when Jeffrey Rogers disposed of Jones’ body.
“The recovery of the body was in the state of Kentucky, but it is believed the body was dumped in the state of Tennessee and floated to Kentucky,” the arrest complaint states.
THE CONFESSION
Jeffrey Rogers told investigators that he was the only one responsible for Jones’ death.
“I own it, and Tammy had nothing to do with it,” he told investigators. “I have the pieces of the puzzle you need.”
He is being held at Tarrant County Jail charged with mishandling a corpse and tampering with evidence and is expected to be brought back to Erath County to face a murder charge.