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Posted Oct 28, 2004 6:46 PM
Man Convicted in 1975 Murder of Girl, 14
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON — A man was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for strangling a 14-year-old girl in 1975, a case that remained closed for more than 20 years until police read a diary kept by the man's mother.
David Allen Jones, 45, had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Robin Gilbert, whose body was found partially covered with brush on a golf course in Reading, about 10 miles north of Boston, on July 2, 1975. The night before, Gilbert had left her parents' house to smoke a cigarette and never returned.
The Middlesex Superior Court jury deliberated for five days before convicting Jones of the lesser charge. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Monday.
"We expected a murder conviction and will have to settle for manslaughter," Gilbert's family said in a statement.
Jones' lawyer, Eileen Agnes, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The case had been closed after the state medical examiner ruled that Gilbert's death was the result of heart disease, despite her age and the fact that her clothes were ripped and her body had been dragged several hundred yards.
In 1996, police received a tip that led them to a diary kept by Jones' mother, who had died of cancer that year. Something in the diary led them to suspect Jones, who was 16 at the time of the killing. Police will not give details of the diary.
The Jones family lived down the street from the Gilberts, and the boy had been seen holding hands with Robin. Gilbert's sister said Jones called Robin at the house before she sneaked out.
Investigators exhumed Gilbert's body in 1997. A different medical examiner found that her heart was not diseased and ruled the case a homicide.
Jones was married and working as a cook outside Atlanta when he was arrested in 1997. He fought efforts to return him to Massachusetts, and it took several years to have his case transferred from juvenile court. He was charged with murder in 2000.
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