FBI mistake let suspected serial killer go free
By DON PLUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/04/05

FBI officials in Washington admitted Tuesday they botched fingerprint tests on a suspected serial killer, allowing him to slip through the hands of Georgia authorities before he allegedly murdered four more women, including a Forsyth County hairdresser.

Jeremy Brian Jones was arrested and jailed over minor offenses three times —  twice in Douglas County, in October 2003 and in June 2004   and once in Carroll County, in January 2004.

Local law enforcement agencies in both counties fingerprinted Jones, who is now a suspect in as many as 20 slayings, and sent the prints to the FBI. However, the FBI didn't match those prints to Jones, who had given police an alias and was wanted in Oklahoma for sexual assault.

So Jones was released.

As a result, the FBI said Tuesday in a statement, "law enforcement lost an opportunity to prevent further criminal activity by this individual."

"The FBI regrets this incident," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division. "We continue to improve our procedures and examine new technologies to upgrade and enhance the reliability and accuracy of [the fingerprint system]."