The Fort Worth woman who Mayor Mattie Parker said was involved in leaving a casket outside the mayor鈥檚 home three years ago posted on social media about seeking to borrow one just days before the incident, according to police reports.
However, police say it is unlikely the woman, Patrice Jones, was at the scene of the December 2022 incident.
On Thursday, Jones said she made a post about a casket but did not recall why, noting that a lot was happening in the city three years ago. She said she did not seek a casket to leave at Parker鈥檚 home.
In a post dated Dec. 3, 2022, Jones wrote, 鈥淎ny funeral home willing to allow use of a casket for tomorrow? We also need some buses from some churches,鈥� according to police records released to the Fort Worth Report late Oct. 15.
One week after Jones鈥� post, an empty casket was left outside Parker鈥檚 home, according to a 2022 Fort Worth Police Department report detailing the incident. After that, Jones shared a Facebook post from another activist that defended the incident as a protest, according to the report.
鈥淐learly, (police) didn鈥檛 find those posts to be enough evidence to even question me on this incident, nor did they find enough evidence to even have me listed as a suspect,鈥� Jones said Thursday.
The 2022 incident resurfaced recently after a heated City Council meeting on Sept. 30 when Parker said, 鈥淧atrice, I still have your casket,鈥� after Jones at meetings could force residents to find other ways to address council members and make them 鈥渦ncomfortable鈥� in their 鈥渃omfortable spaces.鈥�
After that meeting, Jones and community activists for the comment, which they characterized as threatening.
Parker later said in a statement she felt provoked by Jones' words, which she perceived as a threat to her and the council. The mayor wanted Jones to know she was aware of the activist鈥檚 involvement in the casket incident, she said.
Parker鈥檚 spokesperson Kinsey Clemmer said Thursday that the mayor declined to comment about the police reports.
After her , reporters asked Parker if she regretted making the casket comment.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 right now,鈥� Parker replied. 鈥淚 regret anything that puts a negative light on the city of Fort Worth, right? And so my job as mayor is to tell positive stories and focus on what really matters.鈥�
In 2022, the casket was left outside Parker鈥檚 home at the time a Fort Worth police officer was on trial for the fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson in 2019.
Jefferson鈥檚 name and others killed by police were written on the casket along with a 鈥渟et of red concentric circles with a red cross centered on the circles,鈥� appearing to resemble the cross-hairs of a weapon scope on a target, the police report states.
Parker said earlier this month she or move a police investigation forward in an attempt to 鈥渁llow the city to heal in what was a very difficult time 鈥� the murder trial for Atatiana Jefferson.鈥�
Home security footage of the incident shows two people wearing face coverings jump out of a pickup truck and dump the casket in Parker鈥檚 front yard before leaving in the truck, according to the police report.
鈥淣one of the persons involved in dropping the caskets have the same physical features as Jones,鈥� a supplemental police document dated Dec. 16, 2022, states. 鈥淭his makes it virtually impossible to say she committed the offense necessary for a search warrant or any other warrant.鈥�
In phone interviews Wednesday and Thursday, Jones reiterated her previous position that the mayor slandered her character by insinuating she was involved with the casket dumping. She said that, although she didn鈥檛 remember why she posted about asking for a casket or buses, many community activities were happening as the trial went on and noted she wrote then about needing the items the following day.
The Fort Worth Report obtained the police report Oct. 15 after Parker said earlier this month detailing Jones鈥� involvement in the incident. She also said there were 鈥渆yewitness accounts to this fact.鈥�
While the report notes witnesses, it does not detail anyone identifying Jones.
Jones said she perceived Parker鈥檚 Sept. 30 remark as a 鈥渢erroristic threat鈥� and filed a report with the police Oct. 1.
Police decided Parker鈥檚 comment was not a threat, according to a copy of Jones鈥� police report reviewed by the Fort Worth Report. The case was closed Oct. 2.
Jones is the founder of Southside Community Garden, an initiative that living in the ZIP code 76104. She has been an outspoken critic of police violence and advocate for a citizen-led Fort Worth police oversight board.
One month before the casket was left in Parker鈥檚 yard, City Council members of such a board.
Two days after the casket was dumped in 2022, Jones shared a Facebook post about how Black residents had tried to air grievances the 鈥渞ight way鈥� by advocating at City Hall and town hall meetings, according to the police report.
鈥淪o, it鈥檚 important to remember the reason activists felt they had to take their concerns to (Parker鈥檚) door step is because working within the system didn鈥檛 work,鈥� the post read, according to the police report.
Officers drove to several funeral homes to try to identify the pickup truck seen in security footage but did not find it, the report states.
Had the occupants of the pickup truck been identified, they could have been charged with a Class B misdemeanor for 鈥渋llegal dumping鈥� of the 93.4-pound coffin, according to the police report. Such misdemeanors are punishable by a fine not to exceed $2,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, or both, according to the .
In August of last year, officers followed up on a tip and spoke to two people connected to a local funeral home who said they did not have knowledge of or involvement in the casket incident, according to the police report.
A woman identified in the report as one of the co-owners of the funeral home told police she was out 鈥渏unking鈥� and happened to be in the area the day of the incident. She told police she saw four to six people put the casket in the street, according to the report.
Following that interview, officers noted the offense was past the statute of limitations.
When reached for comment about details in the report, a representative of the funeral home named in the police report as an owner told the Fort Worth Report he knew nothing about the incident or the police investigation. The woman interviewed by police last year could not be reached.
Government accountability reporter Drew Shaw contributed reporting.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .
This first appeared on and is republished here under a .
