South Carolina man confesses to murdering California woman 21 years later

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A South Carolina man has confessed to the murder of a California woman 21 years ago in Alabama, according to local reports.

Brian Jones, 62, packed two bags of personal belongings and took a bus from South Carolina to Bessemer, Alabama, to confess the crime, Bessemer Police Lt. Christian Clemons told FOX 6 Birmingham.

Brian Jones (Jefferson Co. Sheriff's Office)

Janet Luxford — originally from Napa, California — was last seen in Bessemer, Alabama, in 2001 when she was 41 years old, according to the Justice Department's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS).

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Her family reported her missing in 2002, telling authorities that Luxford traveled from her residence in Jacksonville, Florida, to a motel in Bessemer in September 2001 when she was "last seen leaving with unknown trucker," the NamUS website states.

Janet Luxford (NamUS)

Jones, her boyfriend and a trucker at the time, confessed to the Bessemer Police Department that he hit Luxford in the throat with a club in February 2001 after the pair got into a dispute over money at a Bessemer motel on 9th Ave. SW. He proceeded to fit her body into a suitcase, which he dumped in a wooded area near Harmer Street and Valley Creek.

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"So 21 years ago, Mr. Jones was here working as a day laborer. He and Ms. Luxford were boyfriend-girlfriend. She wanted to get money to go back to home, which is California, to see her folks and from that, an argument started to which he described got out of hand and he ended up hitting her with a club in the throat," Clemons told FOX 6.

 Bessemer motel on 9th Ave. SW (Google Maps)

He told police the murder was accidental, according to the outlet.

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"It’s not a homicide that we even had on our radar," Clemons said. "It’s something that he committed here 21 years ago and nobody knew that it happened besides him."

Jones is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. He is being held on $750,000 bond, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.