UPDATE, August 1, 5:45 pm: The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the identity of the victim on Wednesday as Miranda Pederson, (7-31-1995). Her 23rd birthday was yesterday.
The scene was so grisly at Monday’s house fire south of Luther that the victim who was shot and burned still hasn’t been officially identified by the Medical Examiner or the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. The victim ‘s roommate is accused of killing her before setting their rental house on fire to hide the alleged crime.
Kristen Elizabeth Jones, 21, is in the Oklahoma County Jail facing murder and other charges following a fire at the home where the victim’s unrecognizable body was discovered. The women also were roommates with Jones’ former fiancé, Bryson Harrington, at 10750 Lori Lane. Jones returned to Oklahoma late Tuesday after her arrest in Texas on Monday, apprehended just hours after she apparently put her dogs and a gun in a Honda CRV and drove south.
Jones faces charges of murder, arson and desecration of a corpse.
The arrest affidavit recounts what happened according to investigators who recorded a conversation with Jones and her mother.
Jones stated they got into a fight and she looked at the victim’s phone. Jones saw that she had been texting Bryson Harrington (Jones’s fiance). Jones explained that the victim, believed to be the victim’s roommate, said if she didn’t return her phone she would stab Jones. Jones stated the roommate then stabbed her in the hand. Jones stated she then went to the bedroom and retrieved a gun and shot the victim in the back of the head. Jones stated the victim got up and tried to stab her … Jones explains she tried to cover it up because she got scared … Jones then says she tried to burn her while the house was on fire so no one would see her like that.
The Hickory Hills Fire Department fought the blaze that began Monday morning and discovered the body lying outside face down “that appeared burned by the fire.”
In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, investigators said that Harrington and Jones were in a two-year relationship that recently ended.
As events intensified on Monday, Jones’ mother allowed authorities to patch into a phone call with her daughter in which her daughter confessed to killing someone and said “there is blood everywhere,” according to the arrest affidavit. Jones also apparently made suicidal comments which enabled authorities to request an emergency “ping” to her telephone through her cell phone provider, T-Mobile. Jones was apprehended in Cooke County, Texas, in a Green Honda CRV. Dash cam video showed Jones’ dogs surrounding her as she surrendered to authorities, and authorities finding a gun under the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
Oklahoma County Sheriff Investigator Paul Harmon said Jones confessed to the crimes during an interview and noted that she was apprehended less than two hours after they arrived at the Luther house.
