Handwriting on 'am sorry' note could be mom's, not teen's

The father of the 14-year-old Staten Island boy suspected of killing his family in a gruesome murder-suicide blamed the mother for the crime - and new evidence could prove his allegations, sources said.

Undigested pills found inside the boy's stomach and handwriting from the charred "am sorry" note discovered Friday could point to the mother of the slain family, sources said.

Investigators originally believed C.J. Jones slit the throats of his two younger sisters - Brittany, 10, and Melony, 7 - before torching the Port Richmond apartment and cutting his own throat with a straight razor early Thursday.

The razor was found under the boy's body, where investigators believe he may have dropped it after taking his life.

The teen's mother, Leisha Jones, 30, and his 2-year-old brother, Jermaine Sinclaire Jr., were also found dead in the second-floor home.

"If anybody set fire to that house and killed those children, it's their mother," said the teen's father Earlston Raymond, 39, from his home outside Kingston, Jamaica. "She's got a high temper."

And investigators haven't ruled out that possibility.

A source said detectives are waiting for toxicology results on the pills found in the troubled teen's stomach "to see if mom doped any of the kids to make it easier for her to slit their throats."

Another source briefed on the investigation said the handwriting on the note "is likely the mother's writing."

Samples of the mother's penmanship taken from a diary and cards she sent to family were compared with the fragmented note, sources said.

Because there is so little to the note, detectives can't say for sure that the mother penned the letter, the sources said.

Still, investigators don't believe the teen's infatuation with fire is enough to explain the brutal mass murder, another source said.

"Cutting people's throats is usually something a psychotic grows into," the source said. "And so far no one has reported he tortured animals or other kids or his brothers and sisters - so it's a puzzle."

Family members disputed claims that the mother of four killed her children and set the house ablaze.

"My sister is not a murderer," said Sharon Scott, 29. "Those kids were her life."

The latest developments came as the family gathered in a waiting room at the medical examiner's office at Seaview Hospital to identify Jermaine's body.

"I just need to say goodbye," the tot's grandmother Marcia Anderson told the Daily News as she viewed his remains. "He's so little. He's an angel now."

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, but fire marshals found a metal butane lighter - to which the supposed confession note was fused - near the bodies of the mother and three of her children.

Detectives were also still examining the bued remnants of the family computer to see if anyone wrote any alleged plans in an e-mail or online.