Tommy Lee Jones' Daughter Found Dead in Ritzy Hotel Room

Emergency crews who rushed to a famous. San Francisco hotel just hours into 2026. [music]. found Victoria Jones, daughter of. award-winning actor Tommy Lee [music]. Jones, dead. Now police are trying to. figure out what exactly happened to turn. the start of a new year into a tragedy. as chilling new details are revealed. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law &. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Now before we go any further into this, there is something that we use here at.

Law & Crime that can be very, very. useful to you. It's called TruthFinder. and it's a powerful public records. search service that we use to do. research here on Law & Crime, but you. want to talk about a useful resource, you plug in a name, you get address. information, you get criminal history. Let me just say this can give you some. peace of mind. TruthFinder is one of the. largest public records search services. in the United States and with a paid. subscription, you can get access to. unlimited reports about almost anyone. and that includes looking up registered. sex offenders in your area, too. So stay. informed, stay safe, check public.

records with TruthFinder now at. truthfinder.com/lcsiderbar. Victoria Kafka Jones, the 34-year-old. daughter of actor Tommy Lee Jones, has. been found dead in a ritzy California. hotel, but how she ended up that way, that is still shrouded in mystery. That's the question. Now the Fairmont. Hotel is known for playing host to many. high-profile celebrities. It's a major, major property, but this time instead of. crowd of admirers, the hotel was swarmed.

by San Francisco police and firefighters. and technicians from the medical. examiner's office. According to TMZ, a. call came in about a medical emergency. just before 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, so. this is New Year's Day and around 20. minutes later police officers met with. paramedics who told them there was an. adult female who was found dead. The. Daily Mail spoke with a source who said. it was a hotel guest who found Victoria. on the ground on the 14th floor on the. Fairmont. Now the Mail reports that this. guest thought maybe that Victoria had.

passed out from drinking, so they. alerted hotel staff, but everyone. quickly realized this was a far more. serious situation and that she was. unresponsive. According to dispatch. audio that was obtained by TMZ, the call. originally came across the radio as a. possible overdose. Take a listen. Homeless cross of Jones and Leavenworth, respond code three for the overdose with. color change. Respond to control A1. According to TMZ, Victoria was. pronounced dead at the scene. So far. officials haven't released a cause or.

manner of death. That's probably. awaiting the medical examiner's. findings, but authorities do say there. was an obvious evidence of foul play. like trauma to the body. It doesn't. appear, they say as well, that Victoria. took her own life. Now it's also unclear. right now whether she was a registered. guest of the hotel or she was just. visiting. Hopefully those answers will. come in due time, but I will tell you a. little bit more about her. So despite. her celebrity connection to her father, Victoria, it seems, spent much of her. life outside of the spotlight. Now she.

did appear alongside her dad at multiple. premieres over the years, but what we. know is that Victoria was born on. September 3rd, 1991. to Jones and his former wife, Kimberlea. Caffrey. She has a brother, Austin, who. is 10 years older than her. Now Victoria. seemed destined to maybe follow in her. father's footsteps in Hollywood, at. least at the beginning. She made her. film debut with a minor part in Men in. Black 2 when she was just 10 or 11 years. old. In fact, in a 2006 interview with. the New Yorker, Tommy Lee Jones praised.

his daughter's work and this was on the. western The Three Burials of Melquiades. Estrada, which he apparently directed. He told the magazine, "She's a good. actress, has her SAG card, speaks. impeccable Spanish. When she was a baby, I told Leticia, her nurse, to speak to. her in Spanish." Now I will say this, he. did tell a story about the then. 14-year-old's apparent problems with. early time calls. Quote, "I fired my. daughter. She had to get up at 5:00 a.m. for her part. One morning she wouldn't. get out of bed. I said, 'Honey, this is.

work,' but she wouldn't budge, so I. fired her. Then without telling me, the. production staff went over and woke her. and rushed her out to the set just in. time." So Victoria had a few more small. acting parts over the years, but then. she seems to have moved on from acting. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on. California court records that show a. woman named Victoria Jones was arrested. multiple times this year in at least two. counties on misdemeanor charges. Now we. were able to confirm through Santa Cruz. County court records that a Victoria. Jones was arrested there last summer for.

public intoxication and resisting an. officer, but so far we haven't been able. to confirm if it is the same person. Meantime, Napa County court records show. that Victoria Kafka Jones was arrested. twice there last year. In April of 2025, she faced three misdemeanor charges: obstructing a peace officer, possession. of a narcotic, and allegedly being under. the influence of a narcotic. Then in. June, she was charged in the same county. with misdemeanor domestic battery. She'd. entered not guilty pleas in both of. those cases. She was out on bail. But.

look, at this point as we're trying to. piece together answers, police in San. Francisco are asking anybody with. information to reach out to them. Number. is on the screen. We're going to put it. up in the episode description as well. You can call 415-575-4444. or send a text to tip411. with SFPD at the beginning of the. message. And before we go any further. into this, I just have to say our hearts. go out to Tommy Lee Jones and his family. for this loss. I mean, whatever the. circumstances are, this is just a.

painful, painful, tragic way to start. the new year. I'm so sorry for them. We. hope that they have some answers as to. what happened inside that hotel room and. we will continue to bring you updates, but I want to talk a little bit more. about it right here. So now I want to. bring in retired homicide detective Phil. Waters to talk more about this. Phil, thank you so much for taking the time. Happy New Year to you. This is a really, really sad start to the new year. First. I want to just understand would a. homicide detective come to a scene like.

this? I mean, what's the initial. investigation look like? Well, happy New. Year to you, Jesse. It's good to be back. with you. I I tell you I I would think. in a particular event like this where. you have at least on the onset, I would. categorize it as a suspicious death. There's no way to explain. There's no. Apparently there are no signs of trauma. on the body that we can see. I would. think I think that HPD anyway, we would.

we would send a pair out there. Probably. send a crime scene unit first to take a. a look at the scene itself and and then. make a call back to homicide and and. send a pair out there just because. there's a lot of questions. It's just. kind of a strange event that this young. lady. um. turns up dead in the middle of a hallway. in the middle of the night. So that's I. I think I think in those circumstances.

um there would be a pair sent out. Yeah, a hallway room. It's It's interesting. By the way, when you're dealing with a a. hotel, right? Um how does that scene. different from a house? How's that scene. different from any other area where you. you're where you were encountering a. a dead body? Is that a Is that. investigation different if you're. dealing with a massive property like. this? Well, that's a great question um. because I worked security. for 22 years in a major hotel in Houston.

and we did have. a couple of events that occurred in the. hotel that required police action. Uh a couple of them required homicide. uh responding. and it is it is different in the sense. that you have a a different setting. It's not like you have a contained like. a house, you know, that you you got the. house and that's it. >> [snorts]. >> You've got at least in my case, you've.

got a thousand houses. It's kind of what. you look at it in each room. So each. room is for lack of a better term is a. residence, right? So it depends on where. it happens. Now if it happens in a room, then that hallway is going to be secured. and that floor is going to be secured. And. then it's a matter of you're going to. have to as you get into it, you're going.

to have to start canvassing that floor. Uh if you're going to have to you've got. to get management to cooperate with you, of course, to secure the scenes and not. upset the general functioning of the. hotel. From that aspect, it does get a. little bit more complicated. There's. some more moving parts. Um and then you you go about the. investigation in the same way that you. would wherever the scene might manifest. itself. So But you would put it up in.

>> part of it is probably the most. critical. But you would imagine there's. cameras everywhere. So if we're trying. to do a timeline of events or. what her movements were or when she. entered the room, that's going to be. easy to document, right? Well, I would think it would be. especially when it's contained within. the hotel, but then you don't know if. she left the hotel then came back and. that kind of a thing. So you would you. would you would and there's a way. there's ways to do that. I know that the. hotel I worked in that way back when.

when the videos really started coming. around, they they put all the video cameras up. I'm assuming that. the hotel that I worked in has updated. all those systems and I would I'm just. assuming that this hotel in San. Francisco has some sort of CCTV. coverage. Um so you got to and then you. can go to the. the. the times in and out of the room.

and get an idea of when perhaps and then. you couple that with the video footage. that you might have and you get an idea. of I mean you able to establish the. timeline then talk to witnesses talk to. friends. um. look in cell phones I mean there's a. whole lot of ways to especially in the. digital world that we live in. to put together a timeline and that's. really going to be important here. because the only odd thing about this. particular case is that. this young woman is by herself now.

and somebody and I think it read that a. guest another guest it doesn't say that. they're associated with her found her. and so. that's going to be that's the first. question in my mind is who found her do. they have any you know relationship with. her. and then you try to backtrack as how did. she end up by herself. in the floor so. but again you got to work.

from the moment where she is and then. work backwards from there and try to. determine where she started from. >> You mentioned this before. when they say there's no evidence of. foul play I have two questions about. that one is it only there's no signs of. external trauma right I imagine that's. why and B can that change can they say. maybe there's no preliminary evidence of. foul play but that could change over the. course of an investigation Well there's. no signs of foul play that's a media.

concoction right. um I would never use that term. when I did sound bites I would not use. that term. I would go more along the lines of what. you just stated with that at this point. in time we don't have any signs of. trauma on the body but the investigation. is ongoing. Mhm so why say it like that and and can. that change and to be clear to be clear. we we don't it could very well be that. right it could very well be that this is. a a death that is not under.

other kind of suspicious circumstances. that someone else was involved there. there could be a multiple reasons but um. can that change what would lead to a. change like that how should we be. thinking about it That's going to be as. a result of the investigation right so. you you and you don't want to get ahead. of yourself. uh that's what this is one of these. things where you you before you get out. there and say and let's just say for the. sake of our discussion if you want to.

get out there if they do determine that. there is uh some suspicious. circumstances behind it. and they're delving off into those. things you want to be very careful. about coming out in a sound bite to. inform the public. that. you know we we now have some evidence. that's leading us in another direction. but the but the again the investigation. is continuing that's a kind of a fine. line because when you get out there and. you make these sound bites of course. what the hotel is concerned about is the.

security of their guests so if this was. something that occurred. that was suspicious in nature. or if it was something that was. caused by another person killing her. then. the guests in the hotel are the ones. you've got to assure that. there's some. sense of urgency here in making sure. that you're secure. law enforcement is doing everything they.

can do to bring about some answers to. this thing and so it becomes a a PR. problem. and reassuring people that we don't have. a killer running loose here in the in. the hotel and if we do is it unique to. her. or is it just some random. person you know. uh ran through the hotel grabbed her. murdered her in some way and then. escaped so. again.

it's you got to be careful about that. and you need it if you're going to come. out and make a statement of some kind. you better have some basis for making. whichever way you're going to go because. if you come out and you make some sort. of vague. statement all that does is is. creates people online and they start. coming up with the conspiracies and blah. blah blah and it just creates a lot of. confusion that is not necessary I 100%. understand that you make a great point. about it. when would the cause and manner of death.

be determined and when would that. information be released. Well the ME's going to get it when they. do the autopsy. they may be able to determine a. preliminary. cause of death. uh. maybe this one because at least at the. scene what we're being told is. you know her clothing is on and so forth. so there's no visible signs at the scene. of trauma but once they get her to the. to the medical examiner and they start.

to examine the body they may see some. signs of trauma there may be something. there that uh. they they didn't see at the at the scene. and I know I had a scene where. we. had a death. uh we brought the guy to the he got to. the medical examiner's office they did. the autopsy. and found that there was a. and it was with a screwdriver.

a puncture wound. in his chest. that did not there was no blood. there was no bleeding. and uh. but when they got him on the table and. got him exposed. well. you see this I mean a very small. puncture wound and that's how he died. he was stabbed by his girlfriend with a. screwdriver.

so there's a lot of things that are. going to be told that body is evidence. and once the autopsy is conducted now. they may be able to tell once they get. into the autopsy that. uh there may have been some. heart issues there may be some other. things. in the in the. organs of the body that tells them that. this is what they believe occurred and. it's a preliminary thing remember. uh and but I think in this particular.

case in a cases like this what's going. to be critical is the tox test and those. tox test you know they they take. sometimes months to get back certainly. weeks. and then the. um the ME has a better idea of coming up. with a an actual ruling as to the cause. of death and and also and once we get. the cause of death of course that's. going to determine what the manner of. death is so those types of. you know manners of death that they can.

rule they can rule it homicide they can. rule it natural they can rule it. accidental they can rule it undetermined. um so we'll have to wait and see and I. know that's where people get so. impatient especially when you have a. relatively high profile death like this. that is unexplained at the scene. and again that caused people to conjure. up all sorts of. ridiculous conspiracy theories and and. stories But bottom line let. investigators do their work I I do.

wonder if the family is different what. do I mean by that before we wrap things. up. how would you communicate what the. findings are to the family before anyone. else before the media what is the. conversation with the family do you keep. them in the loop during the course of. the investigation how much do you. communicate with them. what the results are. talk to us about that. Well I've done that many times and that. is one of the most difficult jobs of a.

homicide detective is to shepherd the. family through a death at least. initially that is. unexplainable. I mean I think she's what 34 years old. and she's a young woman. in the in you know in the best part of. her life and all of a sudden boom this. happens. I have always took the I always took the. approach that being straightforward. and as open and honest as I could be was. the best way to communicate with the.

families. uh because and I and I've said this to. families I said look. I do not want to tell you something that. you might want to hear. because when you find out. that that's what I'm doing. you're going to be mad at me. and I do not want you mad at me. so I want to be full disclosure. I want to be open and I want to tell you. what I am finding in the course of the. investigation so that we can better.

maneuver through this because it's tough. no matter who. who the person is and who the loss. affects so it is tough to do. I. try to be very empathetic. and uh. understand what they're going through. because I've been through those types of. things myself so. it it just gives me a little bit of. insight to. and always tell. you know I I'm I'm sorry very sorry for.

their loss. and and I always try to reassure them. that I'm keeping them in my prayers and. I meant that. and that gives some consolation some. comfort at least to the families that. I've talked to them over the course of. my career And Phil I'll tell you they're. they were lucky to have you they were. lucky to have you uh Phil Waters thank. you for taking the time uh we'll keep a. careful eye on this and see where it. progresses. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having me on, Jesse. And. that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. And as always,

please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. [music] Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.