HOUSTON – A woman convicted more than 30 years ago of using a drug overdose to kill a baby was indicted Thursday on charges related to another case, according to a spokesman for the Bexar County District Clerk's Office.
On Thursday, Genene Jones was indicted on another murder charge.
She is accused of killing Joshua Sawyer on Dec. 12, 1981 by injecting him with Dilantin also known as Phenyton.
Jones was convicted in 1984 of killing 15-month-old Chelsea McLellan by giving her an overdose of muscle relaxants while working as a pediatric nurse at the clinic where the baby was being treated.
Jones was sentenced to 99 years in prison. However, she was sentenced under a now-repealed Texas law meant to alleviate overcrowding in the state’s prisons. That law allowed her to take days away from her sentence for every day of good behavior in prison.
In 2014, the state parole board denied Jones’ request for early release and issued a “serve all” order, meaning she is not allowed another review before her mandatory release in February 2018.
Investigators said they suspect Jones in the deaths of up to 40 infants during her time as a nurse in San Antonio and Kerrville. However, court records showed that much of the evidence in those cases was destroyed during the late 70s and early 80s by the now-shuttered hospital where Jones worked.
Prosecutors said nearly four years ago that they were working to re-open old cases against Jones. They said their goal is to find enough evidence to prosecute Jones on at least one other case, keeping her in prison.
