On the morning of September 9, 2008, Casandra Malone watched as reporters announced Memphis’ latest homicide. An unidentified woman had been found fatally shot inside a blue Chevrolet Impala at an East Memphis gas station.
She never thought the woman would turn out to be her older sister, Phyllis Malone. She did, however, feel uncomfortable about Chancy Jones, the man her sister was dating before her death.
Chancy Jones
“I only saw him one time,” Casandra said. “When he shook my hand, I felt a cold chill go across my body. I said, ‘Something isn’t right about him.'”
A fatal fling between Jones and Phyllis was profiled in “Law and Murder,” Monday night’s episode of TV One’s docu-series Fatal Attraction. Marathon encore episodes of Fatal Attraction can be viewed Mondays from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The night before her body was found, Phyllis met up with Jones, a three-year veteran of the Memphis Police Department at the time. He arranged for them to meet at a Whitten Road Shell gas station.
According to a court document, an argument ensued between the two about Phyllis’ alleged pregnancy and need for money. Jones wanted her to get an abortion but was reportedly unsure about funding it. Phyllis threatened to tell his wife about their affair.
When Phyllis, 31, said, “Bye, Chancy” and began to leave, Jones (37 at the time) shot her three times with a .38-caliber revolver, according to the document. A medical examination revealed that shots to the right side of her head and chest killed her. An autopsy revealed she wasn’t pregnant.
During his trial, Jones recanted his initial statement that he shot Phyllis after she threatened to tell his wife of their extramarital affair. Instead, he said he shot her after she threatened to run him over and revved her engine.
“According to the crime scene and the direction of the bullets, there wasn’t much verification for that story,” said state prosecutor Missy Branham.
Following the murder, Jones reportedly took Phyllis’ cell phone and threw it into the Mississippi River, along with his revolver.
The next day, he reported to work and was later questioned by investigators. During the interrogation, he admitted to murdering Phyllis and was arrested.
In 2010, Jones was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison without parole.
Branham pushed for a first-degree murder charge but was unsuccessful in proving Jones acted out of premeditation.
“He set up this meeting, and he went there to talk to her armed with a weapon,” Branham said. “And he seemed to have had her blocked in to where she couldn’t go anywhere. To me, that was premeditation. I do think he did knowingly and intentionally kill her to get rid of a potential scandal against him and his family.”
Jones, a father and husband, met Phyllis during a response to a domestic dispute call in July 2008. The two exchanged numbers and developed an intimate friendship before things turned fatal.
Phyllis was a mother of five. Her sister, Samantha, said her absence has had a profound impact on her children and family.
Samantha said she still misses the way Phyllis made her laugh.
“She was so funny,” Samantha reminisced. “I loved my sister. When you take somebody like that with five children and sisters and brothers and a father and mother that loved her, too. … She was a good person. She had a good heart. She loved her family.”
