Police: Driver was traveling more than 100 mph to escape earlier wreck

by Josh Lanier



HUNTERSVILLE – Joe “Red” Jones forgave the man accused of killing him.

From his deathbed, Jones, 53, said he held no ill will toward the man who police say slammed into his pick-up truck Feb. 16 while speeding away from the scene of another wreck, friends said. That was just who he was, they said. He held no ill will toward anyone. Jones succumbed to his injuries from the wreck two days later.

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney has now charged Victor Moultry, the 43-year-old driver of the Chevrolet Impala, with second-degree murder for his role in the wreck.

Investigators believe Moultry hit a car at the intersection of Statesville Road and W.T. Harris Boulevard and then sped away, driving more than 100 miles per hour. As he drove away, police said, Moultry slammed into Jones, who was traveling along Statesville to a garage to get his truck inspected. Both were taken to Carolinas Medical Center-Main for treatment. Moultry was released from the hospital Feb. 18, the same day Jones died.



Moultry had been charged with hit-and-run. His bond information was not available by press time.

Friends and family said they are still reeling from the sudden death of the man they called their angel.

“I’m still in complete shock,” Cheryl Jones, his wife of two years, said. “Joe was the nicest, most caring and loving man I’d ever met.”

Joe Jones, who was known to most as “Red” because of his red shock of hair in his youth, was the stepfather to Cheryl Jones’ two children. He was an avid race fan and loved working on his 1970s Chevrolet Camaro.

Jones worked as a high-end custom cabinet maker. He was an artist with wood, family and friends said, and loved working with his hands.

“The man absolutely loved that kind of thing,” friend Vic Rorrer said. “You give him anything that had been handmade and his eyes would just light up. He had a childlike sense of wonder to him like that. He just brightened up the day of anyone around him.”

Friends said he was caring and friendly to a fault and could befriend anyone.

“If someone talked to Joe for 20 or 30 minutes, they felt like they knew him for a lifetime,” Jones’ best friend Johnny Whitesides said. “He was just one of those guys that once you met him, you wanted him to always be around. He just made your day better. … He was an angel.”

An outdoorsman, Jones enjoyed throwing parties for his friends at his home.

“Joe had a heart of gold,” Rorrer said. “And I’m serious when I say that. … He woke up every morning wanting to live life to the fullest and give himself completely to everything he did. He was a saint.”