D.C. mother faces murder charges in 4 daughters' deaths
She told detectives victims were possessed by demons and died in their sleep
By Sarah Karush | The Associated Press
9:40 PM EST, January 10, 2008
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post Comment Text size: WASHINGTON - A woman found in her home with the decomposing bodies of her four daughters was charged today with murder after reportedly telling investigators that the children were possessed by demons and died in their sleep.

Banita Jacks, 33, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Brittany Jacks, 17; Tatianna Jacks, 11; N'kiah Fogle, 6; and Aja Fogle, 5. She could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Jacks was arrested Wednesday after U.S. Marshals found the bodies while serving an eviction notice at her apartment in Southeast Washington.




Appearing in court in a white jump suit and sandals, Jacks did not speak during the hearing and had a blank expression on her face. District of Columbia Superior Court Magistrate Judge Karen Howze ordered Jacks held without bond. Her attorneys had argued that she be released to the home of an adult relative.

"I don't know how many bodies we need before we determine that Ms. Jacks is a danger to the community," said Deborah Sines, assistant U.S. attorney.

According to a sworn statement by detectives, Jacks said that the children were possessed by demons and that they began dying in their sleep, one by one, within a seven-day period. She also told police that the deaths occurred before electricity at the apartment was turned off, which prosecutors said was in September 2007.
She also said she had not fed her children for a substantial time before their deaths. No witnesses had reported seeing the children since May 2007, the documents stated.

Medical examiner Dr. Marie-Lydie Pierre-Louis said the bodies were in the apartment more than 15 days, "based on the insects that were found there."

Although autopsies are incomplete, the medical examiner's office reported that there was evidence Brittany was stabbed, the charging documents stated. There was evidence of ligature, or binding, on the necks of Tatianna and N'kiah, and evidence of blunt force trauma to Aja's head and ligature on her neck, according to the documents.

Court records in Charles County, Md., show that Jacks filed paternity suits against three men, two of which were successful. In one case, Norman C. Penn Jr., whose most recent address is in Glen Burnie, is named the father of Brittany. In another case, Kevin J. Stoddard, whose most recent address is listed in Prince George's County, acknowledged he is the father of Tatianna.

The county court records indicated that both men failed to pay required child support. Penn was convicted of criminal contempt and received a suspended jail sentence. Records also show that in 2004, lenders foreclosed on a Waldorf town home that Jacks had purchased three years earlier.

City officials were scrambling today to understand how four children could have been dead for at least two weeks without anyone knowing. D.C. Council Member Tommy Wells, who chairs the committee on human services, immediately scheduled a hearing for Friday on the matter. However, today, his office said it would be postponed until early next week to give officials a chance to compile the information.

Nona Richardson, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said Jacks' three younger daughters attended the Meridian Public Charter School in Washington consistently until March 2007.

When they stopped showing up, Richardson said the school immediately tried to contact the mother by mail and telephone. Officials finally went to the woman's home and the woman told a school official that she wanted to withdraw the children and home-school them. They were officially withdrawn in mid-March 2007.

Richardson said D.C. education officials were notified about the withdrawal at the end of the school year, in accordance with procedures.

A child at Jacks' Washington address also had attended Stuart-Hobson Elementary School but withdrew in 2006 as a fifth-grader, public school officials said.

The D.C. Child and Family Services agency attempted last year to investigate a complaint about the family. But investigators could not make face-to-face contact with family members and believed they had moved to Maryland, agency spokeswoman Mindy Good said.

Norris West, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Human Resources, said D.C. officials in June asked social services officials in Charles County, Md., to open a case for the family. However, county officials were not able to locate the family, and it is unclear whether they had actually moved to Charles County, West said.

According to D.C. Superior Court records, Jacks was arrested and charged in January 2007 with driving an unregistered vehicle. In February, she paid a $175 fine and the case was dismissed.

Mayor Adrian Fenty said officials were working to determine what other contacts city agencies had with the family and pledged to update the public Friday.

"We are going to investigate every single contact that this family has had with the government, with people who are paid to look out for the welfare of children, and we will come back with a full report," Fenty said. "We will let everybody know very candidly what was done and whether it was done to community standards and professional standards, and if it was not, there will be a high degree of accountability."

Associated Press writers Karen Mahabir in Washington, Matthew Barakat in La Plata, Md., and Alex Dominguez in Baltimore contributed to this report.

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That's horrible.

Sick

Poor Poor Children

poor babies poor poor babies.
she is obviously mentally ill, I wonder how long she'd been sick. Sounds like she kinda had it together until March 2007. this is unbelievably sad

This is awful!

It's obvious this woman was either mentally disturbed or very high. Meth and or Crack has been the culprit in many of cases like these.

I bet those asses of sperm donors should feel terrible for not even bothering to check on their own children. It's not just the crazy biatch that killed the children that should be at fault.