What began as a domestic argument became much more last Wednesday, Aug. 19, when Cpl. Amanda Carnes arrived at a residence on Maries Road 308 in Belle.

It was reported that Lora M. Stevens said her son’s father, Parker J. Jones, was threatening to burn her house down.

While deputies were en route to the home, 911 Dispatch advised that Jones was threatening to hang himself inside the residence. Stevens and her son were waiting on CR 736, just up from the residence.

On Rte. Y, deputies saw Jones driving his vehicle toward Belle and Capt. Travis Schaffer moved to initiate a traffic stop.

Carnes continued to the residence, seeing no signs of fire or smoke.

Stevens returned to the home and told Carnes that she lives there on a part-time basis, but does not like to stay due to the fact that Jones sometimes comes uninvited and refuses to leave, though he has not established residency at the residence.

The initial argument began on the phone when Stevens refused to take their son to see Jones at his home because a few weeks ago, he beat her up. She added that she was afraid of Jones and didn’t want to be near him. According to Stevens, Jones became irate and threatened her by saying he would “Come over there and shut you up,” followed by a threat to burn the house down. Further, he told Stevens he would commit suicide in the home.

Carnes’s report also indicated that Jones sent Stevens a photo of him holding her stimulus check, which he allegedly took from her mailbox.

Jones, meanwhile, was detained by Schaffer and Deputy Cottingham and admitted to stealing the stimulus check, along with a notebook and several pairs of ladies’ underwear belonging to Stevens. All items were returned to the victim.

During an interview with Carnes, Jones said he did make verbal threats against Stevens though he did not remember exactly what he said. Jones admitted to unlawfully entering the house and taking the items described above. He took the underwear out of spite, Jones told Carnes.

As for burning down the house, Jones admitted to starting a small fire in the front yard with cardboard but said he had no intention of actually destroying the residence. Jones said he just wanted to make Stevens stop all the fighting between them and see his son. He added that he was upset because he wanted to work on the relationship and Stevens did not.

Jones was transported to the Osage County Jail, where he was booked and released.