King, 24, was arrested Tuesday after he was indicted for the death of Knight, the Fairfield High School senior who was found dead on March 11, 2016, in a car on Charles Street, said Hamilton police Chief Craig Bucheit
King was indicted on charges including two counts of murder, one count of aggravated murder, four counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault and one count of probation violation.
Serina Knight said she stayed in contact with the Hamilton police detective, Frank Botts, looking or updates about the investigation.
“It was important of me so the case didn’t get too cold, So I made it my responsibility to reach out to the detective on a regular basis and I was blessed to have Detective Botts because he was willing to accept my calls and talked to me and answer my questions .. he was patient with me,” she said.
Within two hours of King’s arrest, Knight said she got the news from the detective.
“My first thought was, ‘Thank God,’” she said. “It was a complete shock. This is the call I had been waiting for.”
Knight said neither she nor anyone in her family knows or ever heard of King.
“This is a stranger to us,” she said.
She also plans on attending future court hearings.
“That day, the day of the arrest, was the first day of our journey,” she said. “I will be there to represent my son.”
Jaylon played football and basketball at Fairfield and worked at Captain D’s in Fairfield. But when he got home, Knight said her son was playing video games.
Knight described her son “Jay” as “a cuddly person.”
“He was just so stinkin’ cute,” she said. “Every time you were around him, your face would hurt because he loved to make people smile and he had that wonderful smile himself.”
Jaylon was found in a vehicle in the 300 block of Charles Street. The vehicle was in front of a house, just short of striking the structure. Knight was slumped over the steering wheel with a large amount of blood inside the vehicle, police said at the time.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said the homicide is believed to be a result of a drug deal that went bad.
“Jaylon didn’t have a drug problem, he didn’t frequent drugs, I know they did tests on him and he was clean,” Serina Knight said. “No drugs found at the scene to my knowledge.”
Last month, King pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas Court to aggravated possession of drugs and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.
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