4.Travis Jones — Direct

TRAVIS JONES: My name is Travis Jones, last name Jones, J-O-N-E-S.

TRAVIS JONES: Tim is my older brother. I don't believe in calling him my half brother because he has been in my life since I was born and I don't know anything outside of him.

TRAVIS JONES: My parents are Tim Jones and Carolyn Williford now, formerly was Jones.

TRAVIS JONES: So the first memories that I can remember having of my brother are, basically, the first memories I have as a child. Birthday parties were a big thing for us when we were kids because me and Tyler were only 11 months apart. Our parents would throw a birthday party for us together. And I remember Timmy would always just come and grab us and he'd take us to the cotton candy machines that we'd have there and take us to the little bounce houses and stuff. We were just always around each other and always tried being a part of his life. I mean, he's my big brother.

TRAVIS JONES: I do.

TRAVIS JONES: I remember going with my father to go see Timmy when he was locked up. And I remember when we were sitting there, my dad was talking to Timmy and said something along the lines of I want you to talk to your brothers, you know, basically, trying to get a point across to Tim that what you've done is what you've done and you're going to see a consequence for it. And when I sat up there and talked to Timmy, he looked at me and he was like -- I almost can say this exact quote. He looked at me and he was like, Little Brother, where I am right now, I never want to see you here. And I've done everything in my life to make sure that never happens. I try to be the best man I can because I know that's what he wants of me and my father, too.

TRAVIS JONES: By the time that Tim was released, yeah, I believe my parents were separated by then. Because I remember Timmy living out in Bensonville with my father. They had an apartment with one of my dad's friends that he worked with.

TRAVIS JONES: So after Tim had gone and gotten in trouble and when he finally had gotten out, he became a lot more to me than what he was originally, which was just a brother. He became almost like a father figure to me. Because shortly thereafter, which we'll probably get to it, he ended up moving -- my father moved on to Mississippi. And I stayed very close to Tim. I stayed very connected with Tim. And he just took me under his wing. He saw I was having a hard time dealing with my parents' divorce. He saw that I was having a hard time in school. And there was a couple of other personal problems that I was dealing with, too, and he helped me through every one of them.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, sir.

TRAVIS JONES: So that's me. Obviously, I'm being baptized. And that's my brother, Tim, with his arms up, beyond excited and thrilled for me. And I was excited, too, and I was beyond thrilled. In my eyes, that was probably the proudest moment that my brother had with me.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, yes, it was. It was at a church in -- I think it was in Bensonville. I'm not too certain exactly the name or where it was at this point. It's been quite some time.

TRAVIS JONES: Yeah, he had encouraged me to do because, like I said, he had seen that I had a lot of my own problems dealing with my parents' divorce. You know, when Timmy had gone to jail, it was hard for me because, like I said, he's my big brother, you know. We spent every morning together eating cereal, watching cartoons and stuff before my mom would come pick us up after he had been to jail. We'd sit there and watch Ed, Edd and Eddy. We even named each other after the characters.

TRAVIS JONES: So we named each other after this little cartoon. I don't know if any of you have probably heard of it. It's called Ed, Edd and Eddy. It was about these three neighborhood boys, basically, like brothers that grew up in this little cul-de-sac together. And Tim was double D because he was smarter than anybody I've ever met. And T-Bone was always just trying to find a way to get his hands on a little bit of money, no matter it was, if he found change in the couch or whatever, he was always trying to collect as much coins as he could. And I was the bigger one of the group. I was always clumsy and a little bit slower than the rest of them. And so I was Big Ed and he was kind of the dummy of the group, for lack of a better term.

TRAVIS JONES: I want to say I was probably about -- what year did Tim get sent away? I'm sorry, I can't remember off the top of my head.

TRAVIS JONES: So it was probably almost immediately after that that started. Because once Tim was out -- once he was at my dad's, it was really good brotherhood. He was the best. Still is. I know he did what he did, but the man who did that is not the man who's sitting right here right now. I'm sorry, Tim, but I can sit here and look at you and tell you that you're not all there anymore, brother. I'm sorry that you have to go through this, too.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I spent as much time as I could. It's kind of hard being states away, but we always made a way.

TRAVIS JONES: That's my little Merah Gracie. It was -- I think it was the Christmas after she had been born and we were all just sitting down at my dad's. Actually, that's taken on a camera that Amber and Timmy had gotten me, I believe, for that Christmas. It was just a little, small, black camera they had gotten me, but I had never had one before. And they knew how I always wanted pictures of the kids every time they would come down, so that's what they gave me.

TRAVIS JONES: Yeah, because I got to spend a little bit more time with her than the rest of them. Obviously, when she was the only one, you kind of get that connection of just having the only child, so they get all the extra attention being my first niece and she got all the extra little attention that all those babies eventually got, but I got a year with her before the rest came.

TRAVIS JONES: That's Merah and I in my dad's pool, the one that he has down -- he had down in Mississippi. It was -- I believe that was the summer we had taught them how to swim. I had come down and stayed two weeks with a good friend of mine. We stayed down there two weeks. I believe this is the summer of 20 -- no, no, this is before that. I'm sorry. This is when I had just gone down on vacation by myself, but I had prior -- I had gone down on vacation for two weeks and stayed with my brother and my dad.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, I did.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, I did.

TRAVIS JONES: In a couple of ways, but yes. Yeah. It was arguably, the 26 years I've lived, that was probably the favorite two weeks out of my life that I've ever lived. I got to spend all the time in the world that I wanted with them little kids.

TRAVIS JONES: Timmy always encouraged nothing but positive things about my life. He always wanted me to go to school, which I always promised him I would. And this year, in January, I enrolled at Elgin Community College to start my -- to start my welding certifications. And I'm working my way to get an Associate's in science.

TRAVIS JONES: It's probably the highest ranking thing on my list, right next to my dad and my mom and my brothers and my sisters.

TRAVIS JONES: I don't want to get too much into the details, but my mom had a boyfriend that she was with for around ten years. And Eric and I, we didn't really see eye-to-eye too well. We had a lot of our own difficulties and it caused a lot of tension and stress in my household that I grew up in without Tim being there, but with Tyler and my mom and I and Eric. And I remember one night just calling Tim, I was so mad that I could have just put my fist through any wall next to me. I was just so frustrated. I couldn't calm myself down. And for some reason, the only thought that I had was you know what, I'm going to call my brother. So I walked outside and I called Tim. And the way I would explain it is I was -- you know, everyone has seen what the ocean looks like. You've seen how high those waves can get. I was that when I talked to him. By the time I hung up that phone, in a matter of ten, 20, 30 minutes, I was no wake. I was in a no wake zone. I was completely calm. He just knew how to talk to me. He knew how to get through to me. He always has.

TRAVIS JONES: Yes, it is. It's the most important to me. That's why I'm here because I do not want to see him lose his life. I've already lost so many people in my life. I lost my favorite uncle when I was a kid. I lost my Aunt Elaine when I was a kid. Now, I have to live with this constant fear that I'm going to lose my brother after I've already lost my nephews and nieces. Please, please don't do that to me. Don't make my family have to endure this.

TRAVIS JONES: Thank you, Casey.