FORT LAUDERDALE — Former Vero Beach banker Michael David Jones, who is accused of killing a Sebastian nurse, was sentenced to five years in state prison in an unrelated aggravated stalking case from 2012.
Jones had avoided jail time but was placed on five years probation as part of a plea in the stalking case, which involved a death threat against his former girlfriend in Fort Lauderdale. After transferring his probation to Indian River County, Jones was not to leave the county without permission.
On June 22, 2014, two days after Jones’ on-again, off-again girlfriend, 26-year-old Diana Duve, went missing, Jones was found by police in a Fort Pierce Hampton Inn near the interstate, which Judge Lisa Porter ruled violated the terms of his probation.
Vero Beach Police officers Det. Brad Kmetz and Lt. Matt Harrelson testified last Friday in the Broward courtroom, as did Jones’ probation officer.
He will now be transferred back to the Indian River County Jail while his defense attorneys prepare for the first-degree murder trial.
Jones is accused of killing Duve in his Vero Beach condominium by manual strangulation, driving her body to Melbourne and leaving her in the trunk of her own car. If convicted, Jones could be sentenced to death for the crime.