23-Year-Old Charged After Mother Found Shot in Car Near Fullerton Police Station

Overview

• The Orange County District Attorney filed a felony murder count and a firearm enhancement against Emmanuel Wesley, 23, on July 17; he pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Orange County Jail.
• Prosecutors say video from July 4 shows Theresa Jones pull up to the Fullerton Police Department with her son in the back seat, then shows the son exiting after Jones slumped and later driving away in her vehicle.
• Jones was reported missing on July 7 after she failed to pick up a grandchild and did not answer calls, and her body was found on July 11 in the passenger seat of her car in a Fullerton church parking lot with two gunshot wounds to the back.
• If convicted on all counts, Wesley faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life and Senior Deputy Mallory Miller of the DA’s Homicide Unit is prosecuting the case, which the district attorney described as a particularly egregious crime.
• Investigators and prosecutors are relying on surveillance and forensic evidence as the case moves into court, where pretrial hearings will determine how the office proceeds and what evidence will be presented at trial.