Janeene Lea Jones

When I first began searching this name I had a bit of difficulty because I kept coming up with articles referring to Genene Jones, the Texas nurse accused of being involved in the deaths of several children. But, I knew that case was not the one I was attempting to look into even if I did not know for sure what case this was. In fact, even as I began my research in this case I still remembered little about the case. It seemed like one of those “run of the mill” cases I probably caught on one of those episodes of Dateline or something like it that showed videos of people attempting to hire someone to kill another person. Then it was Janeene's “side criminal activity” that I had remembered most from this case.

On February 25, 2013 Janeene Lea Jones of North Port Florida, was arrested after she had attempted to hire a man to murder her current husband, Matthew Smith and a man named John Chamberlain who had been described as a tenant of hers. As is often the case Janeene did not know that the “hitman” she had just hired was an undercover cop. I could not determine how the undercover cop got involved in the case but it generally happens when the perpetrator goes to someone they think they can trust inquiring if they knew anyone to kill someone and that person informs the police. Investigators would learn that Matthew Smith was Janeene's fourth husband that her previous husband, Max Jones had died suddenly in November of 2011. The forty-nine year old year old Janeene would marry twenty-six year old Matthew just six months later.

Not long after Janeene's arrest her husband Matthew would also be arrest. He and Janeene would both face charges in a real estate fraud scheme they had been running. It appears that the couple would find homes that they believed to be abandoned, change the locks, go in and make repairs if needed and then rent them out to unknowing tenants. John Chamberlain had been one of these tenants, but he also seemed to work as a maintenance man for the couple. That being said it appears that when Chamberlain was first brought into the scheme he was unaware that anything illegal had gone on. However, that would change and and would file a civil suit against the couple, hence why Janeene looked to have him murdered also.

What would happen in many of these situations is that the home owner would either return to the home or the tenants would find out that the home was in the middle of foreclosure or already owned by the bank. Neither Janeene Jones or Michael Smith, the people in which the “tenants” paid their money to never owned these homes. Some of these people had relocated from other states and had thought they had found a nice home to rent.

As far as the solicitation for murder was concerned Janeene had it all planned out. She agreed to pay $4,000 for each of the murders. She was planning to go on a cruise soon, apparently without her husband and she wanted one of them to be done then and the other done about thirty days later. She even told the undercover cop she did not care if John Chamberlain's children were home at the time of the murder. She thought that he could kill one of the “targets” by “snapping his neck” or by shooting him and the other should be made to look like a car jacking. She gave the hitman all he needed to find the men including names, address and pictures. She even told him that one of the men (I am unsure which) would be more difficult because he was armed and had security cameras.

Prosecutors say that the motive behind Matthew Smith's murder was a million dollar life insurance policy she had obtained on her husband and the motive for Chamberlain's murder was the fact that he “knew too much.” Presumably the civil suit he had filed against her had prompted an investigation and she was right, by then he likely did “know too much” about what Janeene and Matthew had been doing.

While in custody Matthew Smith would apparently tell authorities that Janeene had been responsible for the death of her third husband, Max Jones. Some articles say that his family was suspicious prior to the charges brought against her in this case, while others say it was these charges that made them suspicious. According to Smith Janeene had given Max a “strong dose of insulin” and it had apparently manifested into looking as if he had suffered from heart failure when he died at the age of fifty-one. It is said that investigators are looking back into his case.

In June of 2014 Janeene would plead no contest to two counts of solicitation of murder. It seems she obviously realized that there was no sense in having a trial with all of the evidence the prosecutors had against her but pleading no contest is surely not the same as making a deal. I say this because Janeene would receive two life sentences plus a year for charges of occupational license fraud. Now granted there may have been a deal on the license fraud case but it was the lesser of the two crimes anyway. If her lawyers were worth their weight they would have negotiated a deal on the solicitation charges.

It is unclear if Matthew Smith ever served time for his role as I could not find him in the Florida Department of Corrections.

Janeene Jones was described as a black widow Prior to Max Jones she had two other husbands, Albert Campbell and Phillip Wallace but I found nothing about any issues with them. What I did find interesting was a website called Jailhouse-Babes.com. There you can find Janeene posing for the camera and saying that she is “seeking handsome, distinguished gentleman to share in my interests.” Aside from the fact that sites like this exist and the fact that a man would be crazy to get involved with her considering her history I found something else interesting there. Under “reason for incarceration” it states “1^st degree murder.” Now, it is clearly the same Janeene Jones that I have discussed here so it is possible that she may have pleaded in the Max Jones case also, but I cannot prove that. Regardless thankfully it looks as she will never see the outside of a jail cell.