Creating a Monster

It's one of the more gut-wrenching stories I've been assigned to lately.

A mother and her four children discovered dead in a burning, Staten Island apartment; three of the older children had their throats slit.

When the story broke, on Thursday, July 22nd, the early evidence that leaked out suggested the oldest child--14 year old CJ--may have slit the throats of his younger sisters--Melanie and Brittany--set a fire that killed his 2 year old baby brother, Jermaine, along with his mother, and then killed himself with a razor. CJ's photo was plastered on the front pages of New York newspapers for a couple of days....with reports about some trouble at school and claims he had started fires before. And then the story began changing.

By Monday, July 26th, details about more of the evidence suggested CJ had undigested pills in his stomach, meaning he could have been drugged before HE was killed, by someone else.
There was no soot in his lungs, indicating he was dead before the fire started. His mother and baby brother had soot in their lungs. Finally, a portion of some kind of note was found fused to the butane lighter that was apparently used to start the fire. It said "am sorry". The early stories had shouted that CJ was the author of the note. The later stories reported the handwriting matched CJ's mother, 31-year old Leisha Jones, who worked sometimes as a security guard.

When I was sent to Staten Island this past Monday night, John Metz--who lived beneath CJ's family at 302 Nicholas Avenue--observed: "I think it's terrible they tarnished a 14 year old child--and made him out to be a monster." Another neighbor, Chante Fleming, remarked: "When they said CJ, I thought 'Bull'! I never saw him light any fires." Several neighbors talked about CJ's devotion to his younger sisters and brother, saying he was the father figure in a single mother household, often picking up his siblings from day care and school.

I reached CJ's biological father, Earlston Raymond, at his home in Kingston, Jamaica. CJ was born in the West Indies, and his mother moved her oldest son and the younger children--who had different fathers--from Jamaica, when CJ was 8. Earlston Raymond recalled talking to Leisha Jones and his son two days before the fire. He told me that Leisha was "talking fast" and didn't seem herself, speaking about some kind of plot to kidnap the family. Was the mother having some kind of psychiatric problems? Raymond told me she had a "high temper"--but neighbors described her as a good mom, who didn't raise her voice to the children.

Today, the Medical Examiner's office told me the toxicology testing is still pending on Leisha Jones, CJ, and the other children. Soon, perhaps, we will learn if the victims were drugged--by a killer who lived inside the household. It's still a mystery as to what really happened inside the second floor apartment at 302 Nicholas Avenue last Thursday, July 22nd. But the changing facts remind all of us it's very easy to create a monster--and harder to fix the damage to a reputation.

Mary Murphy
7/28/10