###

In the ongoing preliminary hearing hearing for Daryl Ray Jones, who stands accused of making terroristic threats to local schools and businesses last year, a former middle school girlfriend today took the stand and testified that Jones subjected her to years of harassment and death threats prior to his arrest.

The woman, who was identified in court as Jane Doe 2, said she and Jones attended Jacoby Creek Elementary School together and briefly dated when she was in seventh grade and he was in eighth.

Under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees, Doe 2 said she and Jones went on to attend Arcata High School, where they were in “overlapping social circles” but did not hang out as much. Over the ensuing years, she said, Jones reached out a couple of times via Facebook Messenger, but in 2021 things took a turn.

In January of that year, Doe 2 received a voicemail from a male who said, “I’m going to kill your bitch ass,” she testified. There was sustained patterns of such threats over the next few years, she said, with more than 600 calls coming into her place of employment, North Point Consulting in Arcata. 

Doe 2 testified that Jones left her hundreds of messages — including voicemails, texts, emails and social media messages — and while she didn’t respond to most of them, one day, in the summer of 2021, she answered a call at work and briefly spoke with the caller. He identified himself as Daryl and said he’d been trying to reach her. 

From early 2021 through February of 2025, Jones called North Point Consulting more than 600 times; called Doe 2’s cell phone “dozens, maybe hundreds” of times, leaving “maybe two dozen voicemails”; and sent “a couple dozen texts,” with the messages coming from a variety of phone numbers, she testified. 

During one call to North Point Consulting, Jones told one of Doe 2’s coworkers that he wanted to speak with Doe 2 about consulting services. When asked for more information he gave the name of Jeremiah Anderson, according to today’s testimony. Doe 2 recognized the name as “somebody we both knew from back in the day,” adding later that Jones used to live with the Anderson family in Arcata.

The harassing behavior was reported to police in 2021 but the District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute at the time, she said. As the calls persisted, accumulating into the hundreds, Doe 2 said she was profoundly affected. 

“It was extremely upsetting to me when he’d call,” she said, adding that sometimes the calls would “send me into a panic.” He would threaten her via voicemail, saying things like, “I’m going to kill you — you and your whole family” and “God won’t be on your side,” Doe 2 testified.

Her voice began to shake as she continued. “It really frightened me to the point where I couldn’t answer those calls,” she said. “It got to point where every time the phone rang, my heart was beating really fast … and I couldn’t concentrate.”

When the calls resumed early last year, Doe 2 said, “I was extremely just horrified that it was starting up again.” It felt “like reliving the nightmare” of 2021, and she was “scared it would never stop,” she testified. Some of the voicemails he left were strange, she said, starting with requests like, “Hey, call me back” but then ending with, “I can’t wait to kill this fucking bitch.”

Doe 2 said she’d heard that Jones was living in Oklahoma (police confirmed this in March of 2025, shortly before his arrest), but until he was locked up she remained concerned for her own safety and that of her coworkers.

Meagan O’Connell, supervising attorney with the county’s Conflict Council Office, is representing Jones in these proceedings. During cross-examination, O’Connell asked Doe 2 how familiar she was in seventh grade with such conditions as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and schizophrenia. Doe 2 replied that she was aware of them but not an expert. 

O’Connell also asked questions about whether Doe 2 found Jones’s demeanor and messages strange.

“I found it scary,” she replied.

When this cross-examination was over, Rees said he had no additional witnesses or evidence for this hearing. Judge Timothy Canning then announced that the court will put off closing arguments to allow transcripts of the proceedings to be prepared. The next hearing date was scheduled for Feb. 11 at 8:30 a.m.

This preliminary evidentiary hearing is intended to lay the foundation for a jury trial. Canning said he will issue a holding order following oral arguments at the next hearing date, if appropriate.