More details surfaced Wednesday about the murder of 41-year-old Traci Leigh Jones, whose body was found in a Kentucky lake in June, and her alleged murderer, Jeffrey Rogers, 60, who was arrested in Fort Worth three days after Jones' body was found and charged with her murder.
According to an affidavit released by the district attorney in Erath County, Rogers hired Jones to film pornography together with his wife, and that Jones had threatened to release information about the situation after the demise of the relationship between the three of them.
Rogers' wife, Tammy Rogers, a former Arlington ISD elementary school principal, has not been charged with any crimes.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Jones' body was found in a plastic container that officials believe was dumped in Tennessee before floating north across the state line to Kentucky, where it was found.
In the affidavit, Texas Ranger Danny Briley said Kentucky and Tennessee authorities reached out to the Rangers to assist in Jones' homicide investigation, given that Jones was living in Granbury.
Briley spoke to a Stephenville lawyer a day later who had an attorney-client relationship with Jones, who first reached out to the lawyer in April about a dispute she was having with Jeffrey and Tammy Rogers about their relationship, the lawyer said in the affidavit.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Jones told the lawyer that the trio were involved in producing pornography and that she was fearful that the Rogers couple could harm her to prevent Jones from releasing sensitive information.
Briley spoke with a friend of Jones from Dublin, the Erath County city where Jones grew up. Jones had recently moved in with the friend after living with the Rogers in their home in Arlington until last fall.
The friend said Jones told her in multiple conversations that she was compensated for engaging in sexual acts with the Rogers couple through Venmo and a shared bank account. Jeffrey Rogers owned a business producing pornography called Circle V Entertainment, according to the affidavit.
In an interview with Tammy Rogers on June 23, after her husband's arrest, she confirmed that Jones had been paid to produce pornography through Circle V Entertainment but that the relationship of the three had ended.
According to the affidavit, Tammy Rogers said she lost her job as Berry Elementary School principal due to a complaint from Jones about Circle V Entertainment, and that Jones had been constantly threatening to call news media to expose the Rogers' porn company.
According to the Dallas Morning News, an Arlington ISD spokeswoman said Tuesday that Rogers resigned in May after working in the district since 1989.
Despite the end of the relationship, Jeffrey Rogers would continue to pay Jones for sex, Tammy Rogers said, and on June 16, Jeffrey Rogers stated he was going to Dublin to meet with Jones and pay her some more money.
In the affidavit, Jones' friend told Briley on the same day, June 16, she last saw Jones walking from her home and believed Jeffrey Rogers picked Jones up on the road and left with her.
Multiple surveillance videos also showed Jeffrey Rogers with Jones on June 16 in Stephenville. In the videos, Jones was wearing the exact same clothes she was wearing when her body was found, Briley said in the affidavit.
According to Briley, the detective that had reached out to him for help learned that Jeffrey Rogers purchased a 50-gallon plastic container that matched the container Jones was found in on June 15. Rogers purchased the container in a Lowe's in Burleson, Texas, according to the detective's review of a video of the purchase.
Two days after the purchase and one day after Jeffrey Rogers allegedly met with Jones, Jeffrey and Tammy Rogers departed for Kentucky to visit Tammy's father, who had recently had open-heart surgery. Tammy Rogers told Briley she knew "there was a cooler in the back of the pickup with drinks, but never looked in the back of the pickup during the trip."
On the couple's road trip, surveillance footage in Royse City and Burleson showed the large black plastic container in the back of the vehicle, and Briley said in the affidavit that he identified Jeffrey Rogers as the only occupant to access to the back of the vehicle and the only one to touch the container. The Rogers arrived at Tammy's father's home at night on June 17.
The next day, Jeffrey Rogers rented a boat in Paris, Tennessee for half a day in the morning, and Tammy Rogers told Briley that her husband left in the vehicle and did not return until noon.
At 8:46 a.m. on June 18, surveillance footage showed Jeffrey Rogers arriving at a dock and loading a container into the front of the boat, before departing the dock in the boat at 9:52 a.m, Briley said in the affidavit.
Jones' body was discovered 2 days later just north of the state line in Kentucky.
After the Rogers returned from their trip to Kentucky, Jeffrey Rogers was arrested at his RV home in Fort Worth on June 23. He was initially charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
On July 1, Briley said in the affidavit that Jeffrey Rogers requested to speak to the Ranger and admitted that he caused Jones's death after leaving a Holiday Inn in Stephenville.
According to Briley, and the taped confession, Jones was alive when leaving the hotel with Jeffrey Rogers, but "he became "scared" of the victim and subsequently caused her death."
Video footage of the two leaving the hotel confirmed Rogers's account.
According to the affidavit, Jeffrey Rogers said he wanted the Tennessee charges to be dropped in exchange for details about the victim's death and his motive. He said he was responsible for Jones' death and discarding her body.
"I want to tell you why and how I did it, [after Tennessee drops charges]" Rogers said in the affidavit. "I have the pieces to the puzzle you need."
Jeffrey Rogers went on to say that the relationship significantly deteriorated for multiple reasons, one of which was the contact Jones had made with local news stations and Arlington ISD about his pornography production business.
He said he was the only one there when Jones died and the only one involved in the murder.
"I own it, and Tammy had nothing to do with it," Rogers said in the affidavit.
Jeffrey Rogers was charged with first-degree murder for intentionally or knowingly causing the death of Jones by strangulation.
The Dallas Morning News' efforts to reach Tammy Rogers were unsuccessful. Jeffrey Rogers' attorney declined to comment on the charges to the Dallas Morning News.
Jeffrey Rogers is currently held in custody without bail.
