Army captain in Puyallup was expecting a child. Then he slipped partner a pill
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- An Army captain at JBLM pleaded guilty to intentionally killing his unborn child.
- Brandon Jones-Adams slipped a drug in his partner’s drink at his Puyallup home.
- The drug, Mifepristone, is used to end pregnancies. Jones-Adams’ partner miscarried.
An Army captain stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to intentionally killing his unborn child by secretly giving a drug used to terminate pregnancies to a soldier whom he was seeing.
Capt. Brandon Jones-Adams, 34, entered the plea during his trial Wednesday at the base’s Cascade Court Complex, according to Michelle McCaskill, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, in a news release.
Jones-Adams, who lived in Puyallup, met the victim in November 2024 and the two began a consensual relationship, McCaskill said in a statement Friday. The victim, a junior enlisted soldier, became pregnant in May 2025 when both were completing a rotation to South Korea. They redeployed to JBLM during the summer of 2025.
While at home on Aug. 21, 2025, Jones-Adams poured the victim a drink. After finishing it, the victim noticed a residue in her cup, immediately suspected Jones-Adams had given her a drug, and soon after began experiencing severe cramping, according to McCaskill.
The victim went to the military emergency room, informed staff of her suspicions and ultimately miscarried during her 13th week of pregnancy, McCaskill said.
Jones-Adams admitted to Army Criminal Investigation Division agents that he placed a pill in the victim’s drink, and investigators found that he had used a fake name to order Mifepristone online and tried several times to acquire the drug elsewhere, McCaskill said. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“What Mr. Jones-Adams did was a disgusting act that killed an unborn child and violated the victim’s trust and autonomy in the most personal way,” Special Agent in Charge Michele Starostka, of Army CID’s Western Field Office, said in a statement Friday. “When someone crosses that line, we will throw every resource we have into the investigation and make sure they face full accountability.”
As part of a plea deal, Jones-Adams also admitted guilt to domestic violence, fraternization and conduct unbecoming of an officer, according to McCaskill.
A message left for Jones-Adams’ lead defense attorney Friday was not immediately returned.
Jones-Adams, who faced four to 12 years in prison as part of his plea bargain, was also ordered dismissed from the Army and to forfeit all pay and allowances, according to McCaskill.
Circuit Chief Lt. Col. Tyler Heimann, Sixth Circuit, Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, called the guilty plea “the result of the exceptional investigative work of Army CID and the dedication of everyone involved seeking justice.”
“Capt. Jones-Adams’ actions were deliberate, calculated, and malicious,” Heimann said in a statement. “By committing these crimes, he inflicted profound harm on his victim and betrayed the trust placed in him as an Army officer. (The) sentence holds him accountable for his conduct and provides a measure of justice and closure for those harmed.”
Jones-Adams will be confined at the Northwestern Joint Regional Correctional Facility at JBLM before being transferred to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to McCaskill.
