D.C. Woman Charged In Murder Of 4 Girls

Decomposed Bodies Of Girls Found In Home Believed To Be Her Daughters

(CBS/AP)  A woman found in her home Wednesday with the decomposing bodies of four girls believed to be her children has been charged with murder in their deaths, authorities said Thursday.

Banita Jacks, 33, was expected to appear later Thursday in District of Columbia Superior Court, where the charges will be formally presented, prosecutors said. She faces four counts of murder and could receive a maximum of life in prison, authorities said.

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty said he was told by the medical examiner that the girls had been dead at least two weeks. The bodies were so badly decomposed they could not be positively identified, he said. "It is going to take scientific tests run by the chief medical examiner's office," Fenty said, according to CBS News affiliate WUSA-TV.

"I don't think anyone in the city can remember a case involving this many young people who have died in such a tragic way," Fenty said.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said authorities were operating on the assumption that the girls - ages 5, 6, 11 and 17 - were Jacks' children.

The bodies were found Wednesday morning by U.S. Marshals, who arrived at the home in southeast Washington to serve an eviction notice. They found the badly decomposing bodies on the second floor of a small, two-story brick building after a routine search.

Police sources told WUSA-TV in Washington that the girls, believed to be sisters, may have been dead a couple of months.

"We believe the bodies have been there beyond 15 days," D.C. medical examiner Dr. Marie Pierre-Louis said.

Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Child and Family Services agency, said Wednesday that the agency had received one report about a family at that address in April through the city's child abuse and neglect reporting hot line.

"We made several attempts to make contact with these people. We were unable to have any face-to-face contact with them," Good said. "On the last attempt (in early May), it appeared they were no longer living at the address."

Good said investigators later found a new address for the family in Maryland and alerted county authorities there of the report on the family. She would not say where the family was believed to be living.

"This is a sick-making situation. It's a horrible thing," she said.

D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who represents the neighborhood where the bodies were found, questioned why no one had reported that four people were missing.

"Somebody should have known that some people were not in school," Barry said.

D.C. schools spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said none of the children thought to be living in the home was enrolled in the school system. One child at that address had attended Stuart-Hobson Elementary School but withdrew in 2006 as a fifth-grader, she said.

Larry Jones, who lives next door, said a woman and two or three children lived at the home but he had not seen them since the summer. He said the children appeared healthy at the time.

Jones added that in recent months he has noticed a "strange odor" coming through his vent. "We thought it was probably dead mice in the vent or something," he said.

The home where the bodies were found is in one of the city's poorest areas on a block of virtually identical apartment houses near Bolling Air Force Base.

Area resident Rowand Simpkins said her neighbors tend to keep to themselves and that she never saw the woman or children.

"It's really a mystery," she said of the deaths. "It's a sad situation."

[simpletruth12123]

Why was it not brought to the media what the religious writing read on the wall ? Was it in Latin or Hebrew ?
Why do the courts not throw out their Bibles as they don't believe in demons.
Has anyone on this site bothered to look up the word Jezebel ?

[serenitywave]

Forget the bible.It shouldn't matter if the family was black, white, green or pink, the Mother was responsible for their deaths.Everyone has choices and there are consequences when bad choices are made for whatever reason. Hopefully the Mother will never get out of jail, she took the lives of her daughters, who did not ask to be brought into this world.Who gave her the right to take their lives away? She is not God.She will go to hell for this crime when it is her time. There is help out there for everyone all you have to do is ask for it. God bless all of the children, let's keep them safe.

[michellem99-2009]

THE PROBLEM IS FANATIC CHURCHES. THIS IS A PROBLEM..THANK GOD I AM FREE OF THEM.

[michellem99-2009]

As older lady I am trying to make the sighted world see past the good,bad in this world. I ye to see what does go on in the big cities..Ye know I was appalled at the lies I was told before most of ye were born. A pretty world and I started asking why. Why a mum/dad killing their children. Why a bloody illegal war. WHY THE HATE AND LIES. Can we as a people fix what is broke or is it too late. IS LIFE TOO HARD FOR YE..My dear yer could not handle it if ye lost yer sight ,,No dear I see more than those who have sight..Peace of Christ be with ye and YES I am catholic...

[terjenper]

MichelleM99 Give me a break. What is up with you? Is life so bad for you that you want to argue. An opinion is what it is, an opinion. Yes we do live in a cold world. We are living in perilous times. But there is hope and that is Jesus Christ. You are right Michelle this is a cold world where we still judge a person by the color of their skin. We think before we are even told that the mom that killed the four children is a poor unmarried black woman. And yes it does turn out that she is black. We need to make a change in our society about being more concerned with the hungry children, not the hungry black children or hungry white children or other races not named. Once we come to a point where we stop focusing on color then we can start seeing change. And caring if our neighbors children are being cared for and stop turning a blind eye to the things that need reporting for the safety of the children. Yes you are right something needs to be done about our homeless people everywhere.

[kailumego1]

"Some" black women have succumbed to "psychological hopelessness" haven''t realized that they''re no longer a "baby-making-factory", neither has "some" black men, don''t like to stereotype/generalize like some people, realize they don''t have to "spread their seed" around the country.

White males lamenting over their lost of "patriarchal hegemony" have reverted to the most savage and sadistic forms of torture against white women, e.g. serial murder, rape, spousalcide, etc.

And yes white women do murder their children, white women from all economic classes, not just those impoverished.

"Ye without sin cast the first stone"

[terjenper]

MichelleM99 Who cares! Does not matter what you say I am not your judge and you are not mine! One does not save one''s self Michelle! John 3:16 For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And no I am not preaching to you only clarifying I can not save myself as you said. Did not mean to offend you only said color is not the issue here 4 children murdered
is. And had I lived in the same neighborhood yes I would have tried to help. Would you??? Alot of people dropped the ball here. I believe it was society Michelle. I never said the United States was christian and yes I do see the world for what it is Michelle and that is lost. And as a christian I do believe in the power of prayer. And I do not consider myself holier than thou just born again.. a sinner saved by grace.

[michellem99-2009]

If ye want to make a difference..Look at the greed. The homelessless,look the mess. Children die every day. They go to bed with no food..YER answer get saved from what a world ye rather NOT see for what it is...a cold world..That is what it is. SHE FOR WHAT EVER REASON DID WRONG..Ye don''t kill yer children but common sense should tell ye to not have children ye can''t afford.

[kailumego1]

Cultural idiosyncrasies, black women socialized by Eurocentric discourse "slavery" to be breeders, while black men socialized identically to be "studs", with the end of slavery black men and women still products of "post-slavery discourse" continue the cycle of bastardization.

White women, through Eurocentric discourse, thought of as sycophant to her white male counterpart, obtain the right to vote in the early 20th Century, gain autonomy over her se[x]uality and reproduction, become independent gainfully employed and no longer sycophant
to her white male counterpart, out of frustration, her white male counterpart laments his lost of patriarchal hegemony, of which he rages through kidnapping, raping, murdering, decapitating, mutilating, burying, poisoning, etc. his prized possession.


Black men and women, along with white women, socialized by institutional racism/genderism to be sycophants and lackeys to white male patriarchal hegemony, either way they''re "DAMED".

[michellem99-2009]

I am also white and 53. I was addessing keithle1 as he brought up skin colour. If I saw yer person I can''t not see your skin colour or gender. A bloody bible reader as I can''t read that hateful book. WE HAVE SEP OF CHURCH AND STATE IN THE US OF A. I was not raised in the church as they are blind minded. Ye save yer self. I have been them holier than ye so called christians. Yes 4 children are dead .I am awere of that . Ye won''t do yer part. THAT SEE THE WORLD FOR IT IT IS..America is not christian. Did ye offer to help and I don''t mean prayer.

[terjenper]

MichelleM99 Give us a break! That is so rediculous making this a color issue. I have not heard anyone say on the news mention the race of these dead children First and foremost who cares if the kids have the same Dad or not, who cares. The kids are dead. Does it matter to anyone what color they are, does not matter to me! Four children are dead. They were murdered! Who cares if they had the same Dad. And just so you know I am a whitey as you call us. Who cares at the end of this life, it will not matter the color of your skin, only if you have accepted Christ as your savior. It is really sad that there is no regards shown for the human life in this society in which we live.

[michellem99-2009]

pt 2 keithle1 The doc asked me what about the man. What about my health. It is the man that has to make that for me. BS. I don''t know what ye do but ye right. Gangs,punks,thugs..IT has to be cleaned up. Get the Dr to fix them.. Ye come down hard on blacks. They acts the way they do as they want whitey to think they are dumb..BS. There are alot of whites that don''t know who mum/dad is. No idea, NONE. I was told *Barbara ye got no business to have children if ye can''t give them the basics,a home.* every day BY FOSTER MUMS. They did not like raising others children.

[michellem99-2009]

keithle1 CAN THEY READ YER POSTS. Forgive me but it is not just blacks but whites. Yer smart..They won''t hear ye. I read every one''s say as he/she is a human beings. I am strongly favour the fixing of them that need it. I feel that way. Just cos they can breed does not mean they should. Ye are preaching to lazy,self centred human animals. Sorry Dear WE are animals..The christians can''t handle that term. It is true. We are a higher form - the thinking and do. Ye can tell males to wear a condom /females use birth control. It goes back their church won''t allow. BS. I DON''T CARE WHAT THE CHURCH SAYS. Where do the unwanted children go..Foster homes..I have shared my life as a foster child on this site, and I have told it it is. The truth. Drs. are the problem. They won''t fix their patent who wants it. I had to demand it years ago.

[keithle1]

Parents who put them first, I meant to say. You could visit 20 prisons all over USA & very very few of the inmates will say they had a loving mother & father. More than a few probably don''t even know who their father is or have never met him if they do know who he is.

[keithle1]

Black women aren''t into marriage. Black men aren''t into marriage. Black men aren''t into using condoms. More than a few black men have fathered illegitimate kids. Children with no stable, loving mother & father who care about them, tell them they''re special & put them often end up as thugs/criminals/gangsters. It''s not a recipe for success. Look at any city in the Northeast.

Why don''t black men use condoms? Why don''t black women use birth control if the black men they sleep with won''t use condoms? Is it stupidity/ignorance or laziness?

[michellem99-2009]

What yer don''t know what poverty is my goodness.Ye know the poor. the have nots vs the haves.

[rohink-2009]

Maybe this isn''''t a "sign" of the coming of the four horsemen but rather a sign that there should be more abortions.


Posted by DeadAnimal

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Maybe instead of proposing more abortions, you should be advocating not getting pregnant in the first place until you are in a commited relationship with someone you love and are ready to raise healthy, good and successful human beings.

[rohink-2009]

Lunacy is caused by poverty. May the souls of the departed rest in peace. And may our children''''s children have a better future if only our government will not think of their personal interest but the welfare and well being of this nation. And as for us citizen may we live our life in the righteous path.

Posted by A-JI

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Most people living in this country do not even know what true poverty is. Most people that are poor, don''t murder their children.

[rohink-2009]

I''''ll bet he''''s a knuckle-dragging, inbred, republican, toe tapping in the men''''s room, Chevy pickup driving, one-toothed, ignorant racist who lives in his mom''''s basement and sleeps with his sister.

Posted by truthspeake2

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And how would you describe yourself?

[rohink-2009]

The bodies were found Wednesday morning by U.S.Marshals, who arrived at the home in southeast Washington to serve an eviction notice. hmmm eviction notice? Recession symptoms? as job growth slows, housing slump, rising gas prices, An economic collapse would likely set off a chain-reaction of unfortunate events to include business failures, mass unemployment, looting, rioting, violent crimes and the breakdown of families...sad indeed...

Posted by underdogus

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Four children dead ranging in ages from 5 to 17 to a mother who is 33. No mention of a father. What do you think the chances are that all children had the same father or that she was ever married in the first place? Yes there is a definate breakdown of the family unit, but to blame it on the economy and rising gasoline prices is ridiculous.