Parents Hope Billboard Solves Killing Sign At Pioneer Square Corner Asks For Information In Stabbing

The family of a Kirkland-area man found stabbed to death near Seattle’s waterfront is hoping a billboard will help solve the killing.

Set to appear Monday at a Pioneer Square intersection, the billboard donated by AK Media-NW, a division of The Ackerley Group, shows a picture of Rigel Brett Jones, 24, and his red Toyota pickup.

It bears the message:

“Were you here when I was murdered? Did you see me with my truck?”

The 12-by-25-foot billboard at Alaskan Way and Yesler Way also says there is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Jones’ death.

Jones’ parents, Rodney and Lorraine Jones, hope the sign will lead someone to come forward with information about the killing.

Jones died early Feb. 4 after visiting clubs in Pioneer Square with a woman friend from out of town. Sometime after midnight the two encountered a large, festive crowd on the street and became separated.

Jones apparently returned to his truck parked beneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway. The friend, unable to find him, returned to her motel in Kirkland.

Passers-by found Jones shortly before 4:30 a.m. lying in a parking lot next to his pickup. He had been stabbed twice in the chest. The driver’s door was open, the engine was running and his wallet and pager were missing.

Police say Jones may have been the victim of a robbery.

Rodney Jones, former safety officer for the city fire department, said he and his wife contacted Ackerley about using the billboard in April and the company agreed to donate the space for about a month. This is the first month the message could be placed on the billboard because the space had previously been rented, he said.

The sign is just steps from where his son’s body was found.

“That’s the only thing I can think of to do to keep him in front of people down there in Pioneer Square,” Lorraine Jones said Wednesday. “It’s going to take a tip from someone.”

The Jones family also plans to distribute fliers with Rigel Jones’ picture and information in Pioneer Square.