The case of Loretta Jones is one that gripped Carbon and Emery County when it first occurred in 1970. And it did so again 46 years later when Heidi Jones-Asay and Sgt. David Brewer reopened the case, leading to the conviction of Loretta Jones’ killer. All of this is detailed in the new book ‘Through the Keyhole’ written by Shawnee Barnes, Brewer and Jones-Assay. Castle Country Radio had the opportunity to sit down with Jones-Asay to talk about the book, as well as some upcoming signings she’ll be holding.
Starting things off, Jones-Asay gave a brief introduction to what the book entails,” it’s the story of my mom who was murdered in Price, Utah in 1970. It took us 46 years to solve the case and it just takes us through the whole process of solving the case, what we had to do, as well as some family insight, what happened with my family when the murder first happened.”
Delving deeper, we asked Jones-Asay to describe the emotions that she felt while working to solve the case, as well as what she felt when writing the book,” for me, I’ve lived this my entire life, well, since I was four.” She continued,” So telling the story over and over and over again just becomes part of my life. But being able to tell this story this way with Shawnee, because we had, it wasn’t closure for me, it was justice.”
We continued along the theme of justice, asking her what she felt when she knew that her mother’s killer was finally facing justice,” When I was growing up, he was the big bad boogeyman.” Jones-Asay explained,” And when I saw him in court one day, David Brewer told me, ‘You know, even the, even the boogeyman gets old, Heidi.’ And so the whole process of seeing him in court and then sending him to prison, where he passed away in March. So for me, it’s been a long time coming of a story that where it’s not a happy ending, but it’s a story of justice.”
Jones-Asay then took the time to talk about the public’s reception of the book,” It’s been amazing. I have done some events in Helper. We’ve done some book signings in Castle Dale and Cleveland. And the amount of support that I’ve gotten from the community is amazing. It’s finally a story that people have heard a little bit about. They knew some of it, or some didn’t know anything about it. But now they can read the whole story.”
On the subject of book signings, Jones-Asay took the time to talk about some upcoming events promoting the book. “I’m going to do a pop-up on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Joanne Smith’s Spirit Connection at Juniper Cafe. But on Friday, Sept. 6, I will be at Helper First Friday at Kate Kilpatrick’s Art Garage. And then the following Saturday, Sept. 14, I will be in front of Apple Country Crafts for their sidewalk sale.”
Closing out our interview, Jones-Asay left a simple message,” just believe in your dreams, believe in the impossible, and never give up.”
‘Through the Keyhole’ is available on Amazon both in both paperback and Kindle publications.