The victim’s friend mourns the loss of a couple killed in Wellington

WELLINGTON, Fla. – WPTV is learning more about the Wellington couple investigators said were them shot down from her neighbor after an argument over a basketball hoop.

NewsChannel 5 spoke with Taylor and Tara Jones, a close friend of the victims, about the life they have built with their four children, who are now without a mother and father.

Ashley Newby said the couple moved from the West Coast to Florida with their children in April 2022.

For Newby, it was an exciting reunion that she felt was overdue.

“I think we both cried. We cried the entire phone call just making plans about where they were going to move, how close it was going to be to us, where the kids were going to go to school, what sports.” “They wanted to play,” Newby said. “It brought our whole life back together, which we had missed for so long because she was so far away.”

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The friendship between Newby and the Jones family runs deep.

She said she met Tara Jones in Florida in 2003 when they both worked at the Ale House. From there, their decades-long friendship developed.

“Tara knew my husband and when we met Taylor he was also part of the family, so there were often four of us,” Newby said. “We did everything together before they moved away so they could come back and then meet our children because I have three boys and they are about the same age.”

She described Tara Jones as a bright, caring soul and said she was there for her through life’s ups and downs.

This included their wedding day and most recently in January when Newby mourned the loss of her aunt.

“She knew how important she was to me,” Newby said. “I just needed her hug and her comfort because that’s just the energy in the aura that she radiates.”

Newby now mourns the loss of Taylor and Tara to a senseless murder.

Newby said it’s not all clear yet.

“Not at all. I actually texted her. I texted her and asked her to please just tell me this isn’t real because it feels like a nightmare,” she said.

Now all she has left are memories and messages.

“Actually, I miss you on a cellular level,” Newby said as he read Tara’s past text exchange. “I said, ‘I miss you too,’ and that was it. I said, ‘I miss you too,’ and now I have to miss her forever.”

Newby said she has nothing but great things to say to Jones’ four children.

“I would definitely tell them that your parents lived their lives. They lived for you and loved life, and you must carry on that legacy because life is too short now.”

The suspect, Norman Scott, 63, is a licensed aircraft mechanic.

He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and is being held without bail.

WPTV’s investigative team determined he had no criminal record before Saturday’s shooting.