Former headmaster murdered
Teachers, students mourn death of man who led EBA from 1977 to 2004
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

Danny Jones

What began as a report of black smoke ended with a case of murder.

Former Edmund Burke Academy Headmaster Danny Jones, 62, was beaten to death in front of his Tobacco Road home.

Firefighters found his body late Thursday afternoon as they tried to save his burning house.

Richmond County investigators believe Paul Blevins, 56, the man Jones once hired to help out with his poultry business, is responsible.

"(Jones) died from blunt force trauma to the head," said Sgt. Richard Roundtree of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office. "We found two objects near his body that may have been used."

While Jones lay face-down about 20 yards from his burning house, Blevins drove through Augusta in his former boss's stolen truck.

Deputies pulled him over for drunk driving and later discovered that his clothes were stained with blood.

Sgt. Roundtree said Blevins is charged with murder and theft by taking. Investigators are also trying to determine if he started the fire to cover up the murder.

Sgt. Roundtree said Jones had known Blevins for approximately three years but that their working relationship ended about a year ago.

Paul Blevins

For decades, Jones, an expert poultry judge and prize leghorn breeder, had been operating a thriving business behind his home.

In 2004, he told deputies Blevins was stealing chickens. Last month, he called them again to report that a black rooster had been taken.

On the day of his death, Jones was on spring break from his teaching job at Hephzibah High School. His neighbors speculate that Blevins may have been caught in the coop and that a struggle could have followed.

While investigators try to put together the pieces leading up to Jones' murder, the students, teachers and parents who got to know him during his 27 years at EBA are preparing to bury a man they say changed their lives.

"He taught me so much about administration, especially the business end of running a school," said EBA headmaster Brent Cribb who worked under Jones as a coach and teacher, then as his assistant headmaster. "His leadership helped me make a smooth transition … he always had everything so prepared."

Cribb said the school will close at 12:30 p.m. today (Wednesday) so that students and faculty can attend Jones' funeral in Augusta. Most of the staff, he said, will make the trip together in a school bus.

Also saying goodbye will be Maurice McGregor, a retired second grade teacher who worked with Jones the last 27 of her 42 years at EBA.

She and her husband, Charles, were among the last to see Jones alive.

He spent last Monday at their Girard farm, fishing and sharing lunch with them as he always did during spring break.

He'd talked of his chickens and pets and his adventures as a poultry judge.

"He may have seemed gruff on the outside, but he was as gentle as a lamb," Mrs. McGregor said, remembering the fresh eggs he shared with teachers and custodians and how he'd stop mid-task to discuss something he'd studied in the Bible. "He was so kind to the children, especially those who were troubled. He'd get onto them and correct them, but he was always on their side … the children knew that and they admired him for it."

She says she can still picture her students gathering around him on the playground, yelling "Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, watch me" as they did cartwheels or spun in the tire swing. He was never too busy to stop and watch.

Like so many others who knew him, Mrs. McGregor says the murder of her mentor is almost incomprehensible. "I miss him so much already," she said. "He was my friend."