(C.J. Jones, 14 (top-left) slashed and killed his siblings -- Brittany, 10, Jermaine, 2 and Melanie, 7)
According to NY Daily News:
The fire that killed a Staten Island mother and her four children is now being investigated as a possible murder-suicide - and detectives believe a 14-year-old boy may be the culprit, police sources said Thursday.
Investigators believe troubled C.J. Jones slashed the throats of at least two of his younger siblings, sliced his own throat and set fire to his family's apartment.
C.J. was found in the back bedroom of the modest Port Richmond apartment, a straight-edge razor lodged under his body, the sources said.
Though flames ravaged the home and badly burned the corpses inside, two of C.J.'s siblings - Brittany, 10, and Melony, 7 - also had their throats cut, the sources said.
The dead girls were found in the charred living room near their brother, 2-year-old Jermaine (who later died at a nearby hospital), and the body of the children's mother, Leisha Jones.
The three-alarm blaze tore through the second-floor Nicholas Ave. home at 4:15 a.m. and firefighters fought through a wall of flame to find the bodies, officials said.
Investigators now believe the fire was set just inside the front door, possibly to prevent rescuers from entering the home, sources said.
Before learning he was the leading suspect in the fatal fire, neighbors raved at how C.J. took care of his younger siblings.
"[He was] the man of the house," said friend Chandra Frankin, 29. "He took care of his sisters like a dad."
