60-year-old found dead in burning vehicle in 2022, TN cops say. Boyfriend now arrested

A 60-year-old woman was found “burned beyond recognition” in the backseat of a vehicle in 2022, Tennessee police said.

More than a year later, her longtime boyfriend, Frankie Lee Jones Jr., has been arrested on a homicide charge, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced Dec. 4.

A passing motorist saw a vehicle engulfed in flames at around 5 a.m. Sept. 9, 2022, according to a news release from police. When firefighters were putting out the blaze, they found Ethel Geraldine Kennedy in the backseat, police said.

“Everyone who loved her knew that Geraldine had a one of a kind personality,” her family wrote in her obituary. “She was her own person, independent of what anyone else felt or thought.”

Kennedy was a “jack of all trades” who worked in home healthcare, according to her obituary.

“She had a heart of gold,” Kennedy’s family said. “That was her way and signature.”

Police initially called the fire “suspicious” and began looking into 60-year-old Jones as a suspect. An investigation started by a now-retired detective led to Jones’ indictment, police said.

A spokesperson for the medical examiner told McClatchy News that Kennedy’s cause of death could not be determined.

Jones was arrested during a traffic stop in neighboring Williamson County on Dec. 1 when law enforcement discovered he was wanted in Nashville, police said.

He was booked in Williamson County and was expected to be transported to a jail in Nashville soon, according to police.

Attorney information for Jones is not listed in Davidson County records.

“Justice for Geraldine Kennedy my auntie,” one woman wrote on Facebook in reaction to the news. “We miss you TT justice will be served.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2023 at 4:21 PM with the headline "60-year-old found dead in burning vehicle in 2022, TN cops say. Boyfriend now arrested."