Suspects accused of leaving Mikayla Jones near highway after fatal drug overdose

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Mo. (TCD) --

Two Missouri men have been arrested in connection to the death of 18-year-old Mikayla Jones, whose body was found abandoned near a state highway weeks after she was reported missing.

Farmington resident Mikayla Jones, 18, was reported missing on May 7.

Her family last saw her on May 3. Other witnesses reportedly saw her two days later at a house in Belgrade, about 30 miles west of Farmington.

Jones's body was found in a wooded area off the side of State Highway M on Thursday, May 20, between the village of Caledonia and the city of Irondale, the Park Hills Daily Journal reports.

She was identified the following day, on Friday, May 21, through an autopsy and dental records, the Washington County sheriff said.

Jones died from a suspected accidental drug overdose, the sheriff said.

Belgrade resident Ethan Civey was arrested on Friday. Blackwell resident Andrew Pierce was arrested on Tuesday, May 25.

Both men are charged with abandonment of a corpse; tampering with physical evidence; and obstruction of government operation, KMOV-TV reports, and Civey is also charged with possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

KMOV-TV, citing court documents, reports Andrew Pierce found Mikayla Jones dead on May 5 after he woke up at a house on the 10200 block of Pierce Road in Caledonia.

Pierce and Civey allegedly wrapped Jones’s body in a comforter and put her in a car trunk, and the two men are alleged to have abandoned the woman’s body on the side of Highway M.

Afterward, Pierce and Civey returned to the house and allegedly destroyed drug evidence and hid Jones’s possessions, KMOV reports. Both men also allegedly lied to investigators when they were questioned.

Pierce reportedly told an unidentified person details of the crime. KMOV also reports that according to court documents, Pierce was previously involved in a March 2021 drug overdose death, and he had been arrested for drugs in 2020.

The Park Hills Daily Journal quotes Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen: ”There’s a law that protects these people that allows them to (call for help). If there’d been 10 pounds of fentanyl in there, if they’d called 911 and said she overdosed, there’s nothing we can do. The Good Samaritan Law in Missouri allows this to happen."

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