TRINITY COUNTY, Texas — An East Texas man and his wife charged with the murder of the man's mother and her husband are accused of gagging and chaining the mother up for several hours, killing she and her husband, and burning their bodies in a backyard.
Jacob Patrick Chrones, 34, and his wife Adeline Esmerelda Aparicio-Rodriguez, 35, are charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the deaths of Clayton and Karen Waters. Their bonds each total $1,550,000 bond.
According to officials, Chrones is Karen's son. Chrones and Aparicio-Rodriguez were arrested Sunday. Sheriff Woody Wallace said investigators found the remains of Clayton and Karen Waters, who had been missing for nearly three weeks.
Wallace told CBS19 that Karen Waters was called over to her son's house and tied up and gagged inside a room for five to eight hours. He said the sheriff's office is unsure of how she was killed.
Clayton Waters later showed up to the house. There was an argument that led to guns being pulled and he was shot, Wallace said.
Both of the bodies were cremated in Chrones' backyard firepit, the sheriff said.
In an interview, the couple claimed that they were hired by Clayton Waters to kill Karen Waters. Wallace said that claim is under investigation but there's currently no evidence to support it.
According to an arrest affidavit, texts that were deleted in a conversation between Aparicio-Rodriguez and Chrones reveal that they said, "Got her...go to Lufkin she is being a bad girl," and "trying to keep her alive till you get back." Chrones also said, "I guess...used the ball and she passed out!!!"
Investigators found a 4X large hooded sweatshirt with presumptive positive blood stains inside of Karen's trailer, the affidavit read.
Clayton Waters had been absent from work, didn't communicate his intentions to be away and he was not answering phone calls from supervisors. Co-workers described this as unlike his character. Aparicio-Rodriguez told a neighbor and deputies that the Waters were on vacation for a few days, according to the document.
When investigators tracked Karen and Clayton Waters' phones, they noticed that the phones followed the same path that Chrones was driving to his home, but he claimed to deputies he was not with Karen or Clayton Waters, the affidavit stated.
Deputies spoke to both sides of the Waters' family to find out that neither of them would go on vacation together and Clayton Waters would not take vacation from work without communicating, according to the affidavit.
One of Karen Waters' friends told the sheriff's office that she received a message from Karen's number on Sept. 16 saying, "I'm good not ignoring you had to go take care of my mom ...... bad cell reception." However, Karen's mother denied that her daughter came to see her and she was healthy for her age, the document detailed.