Police in San Francisco are investigating the death of Victoria Jones, the daughter of actor and filmmaker Tommy Lee Jones, after she was found unresponsive at a hotel in the city early on New Year’s Day. She was 34.
San Francisco Police Department officers were called to the Fairmont San Francisco at about 3.14am on Thursday following a report of a medical emergency, according to statements carried by US media. Paramedics arrived and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, with the San Francisco Medical Examiner taking over the investigation into the cause and manner of death.
The San Francisco Fire Department said dispatchers provided CPR instructions to bystanders before crews arrived, but she was declared dead once first responders reached the hotel, according to reports. The police said there were no immediate signs of foul play released publicly, and the case remained open pending the medical examiner’s findings.
No family statement was immediately available in the hours after the death was reported. Representatives for Tommy Lee Jones did not respond to requests for comment from multiple outlets, while the medical examiner’s office had not released a cause of death as of publication.
Victoria Jones, also known in some credits as Victoria Kafka Jones, had a limited acting career that began when she was a child. She appeared alongside her father in the 2002 film “Men in Black II,” in which Tommy Lee Jones played Agent K, and she was later credited in small roles including an appearance on the television drama “One Tree Hill,” according to entertainment databases and reporting.
She also appeared in “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” the 2005 film directed by and starring her father, which was shot largely in Texas and Mexico. In a 2006 profile interview in The New Yorker, Tommy Lee Jones spoke about working with his daughter on that film, saying: “His fourteen-year-old daughter, Victoria, plays a young Mexican girl.”
In the same interview, he described her preparation and work ethic in flattering terms, saying: “She’s a good actress, has her SAG card, speaks impeccable Spanish,” and recounted a moment on set when he tried to enforce discipline, adding: “But I fired my daughter.” He said the incident followed an early call time and that he told her, “Honey, this is work.”
Tommy Lee Jones, 79, is best known for roles in “The Fugitive,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “Men in Black,” and won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for “The Fugitive” in 1994. While he has kept much of his private life out of public view, he has spoken periodically about his family and children in interviews over the years.
Victoria Jones was the daughter of Tommy Lee Jones and his first wife, Kimberlea Cloughley, whom he married in the early 1980s. The couple had two children before divorcing, according to biographical reporting.
In the months leading up to her death, Jones had faced a series of legal problems, according to reporting citing court records and arrest logs. She was arrested in Napa County in April on allegations including obstructing a peace officer and drug-related offences, according to those reports. She was later arrested in Santa Cruz County and again in Napa County in June in connection with domestic violence-related allegations, media outlets reported.
In the Napa County cases, she entered not guilty pleas, according to the same accounts. The reports did not indicate any court findings or convictions connected to the arrests, and the details surrounding those incidents were not fully set out publicly in the initial coverage of her death.
The Fairmont San Francisco, a landmark hotel atop Nob Hill, is a prominent venue in the city and frequently hosts tourists and business travellers. Police have not said where inside the hotel Jones was found, or whether she was staying there alone, and authorities have not released additional investigative details while awaiting the medical examiner’s report.
The medical examiner’s investigation is expected to determine the cause of death and whether drugs, alcohol, underlying medical conditions, or other factors played a role. In San Francisco, such determinations can take weeks or longer, particularly when toxicology tests are required.
Jones’s death drew rapid attention because of her connection to one of Hollywood’s most recognisable figures, but she had largely remained outside the public spotlight as an adult. Her few credited performances came in projects tied to her father’s work and in minor television appearances, and she did not maintain the kind of public celebrity profile common among many children of well-known actors.
In the hours after the news emerged, online tributes and speculation circulated, but officials have urged caution and have released only limited confirmed information. Police have said the investigation remains with the medical examiner, and no official conclusion has been issued about what happened in the early hours of New Year’s Day inside the hotel.
