When Larry Jones noticed a foul odor coming through a vent in his apartment, he chalked it up to dead mice and spoke to his landlord. But it was not until Wednesday, when U.S. marshals delivered an eviction notice next door, that Jones learned the real source of the stench. It was something way more crazy than a dead mouse. The smell came from the decomposing bodies of four young people.
Banita Jacks, 33, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and appeared in District of Columbia Superior Court. She did not speak during the hearing and superior Court Magistrate Judge Karen Howze ordered her held without bond.
When investigators came Jacks told a crazy story about children being possessed by demons. She said they began dying in their sleep, one by one, within a seven-day period, and added that she had not fed them for a substantial time before their deaths.
According to the police she said that the deaths occurred before a utility turned off her electricity, which prosecutors said was in September 2007, according to charging documents.
“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,” Mayor Adrian Fenty said.
Medical examiner Dr Marie-Lydie Pierre-Louis said that Investigators believe the bodies had been there at least two weeks based on the insects that were found, but it was unclear exactly how and when the victims died. Authorities have said the children might have been dead since May.
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