Ione man gets life without parole for killing woman in 2023 stabbing attacks
An Amador County man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2023 fatal stabbing of a 63-year-old woman in her Ione home, described by prosecutors and the judge as deliberate, evil and brutal.
Joseph James Stephens-Jenkins, 36, of Ione, pleaded guilty in April to the murder of Lori Owens and two counts of attempted murder for attacks on Shane Billows and George Orozco during a stabbing spree in an Ione neighborhood, Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe said in a news release.
Amador Superior Court Judge Renee C. Day sentenced Stephens-Jenkins on Wednesday morning to life without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said Stephens-Jenkins used a knife to attack Billows and Orozco on Shakeley Lane, a few blocks from where Owens was fatally stabbed in her Violet Lane home.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Stephens-Jenkins broke into Owens’ home and stabbed her repeatedly, killing her.
Authorities said they later found and apprehended Stephens-Jenkins in the backyard of a nearby home.
At a news conference following Stephens-Jenkins’ October 2023 arrest, Ione Police Chief John Alfred said the victims did not know each other and Stephens-Jenkins did not know them. He described the attacks as “a random act of violence.”
Judge Day said she hopes Stephens-Jenkins spends the rest of his life thinking about the harm he caused.
“I hope that every day for the rest of your life, you acknowledge that what you’ve taken from these families will be felt for generations...at least the community may rest easier knowing that you’ll never be free again,” she said.
District Attorney Todd Riebe called Stephens-Jenkins’ actions evil.
“How do you explain the unexplainable?” He asked. “In this case, with one word: evil. Some cannot and should not ever walk freely among us. With this sentence, that line is drawn.”
Riebe added that “an even greater tragedy would be if this event defines the victims, their families, and our community - it does not, and will not.”
Stephens-Jenkins was released from prison on parole in July 2023 and had previously received treatment at Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County, according to prior reporting by The Sacramento Bee. The hospital provides mental health treatment for incarcerated patients awaiting trial or serving prison sentences.
The Stockton Record reported the Ione attack was not Stephens-Jenkins’ first stabbing case. In 2011, he allegedly stabbed and severely wounded a 41-year-old man in the Sutter Creek Basin.
After his release from prison, Stephens-Jenkins returned to Ione and was living in the neighborhood where the attacks occurred Oct. 30, 2023, west of Highway 124 in the Amador County town.
