Bodies' Decay Obscures Cause of Death

Forensic Tests Show No Signs of Drugs, Poisons; Public Defender to Start Probe

The cause of death for four sisters who police say were killed by their mother last year cannot be pinpointed by pathologists because the bodies were so badly decomposed when they were discovered, city officials said yesterday.

Forensic tests came back negative for various drugs and poisons, said D.C. Chief Medical Examiner Marie-Lydie Y. Pierre-Louis at a news conference she held with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

Despite ligature and puncture marks on some of the bodies, the girls' organs were too dried or decomposed for doctors to determine the cause of death. The eldest daughter was identified through dental records, and her sisters were identified by comparing DNA samples with those from their mother, Banita Jacks, who has been charged with murder.

The medical examiner has formally ruled that the deaths were homicides and signed the death certificates yesterday for Brittany Jacks, 16, Tatianna Jacks, 11, N'Kiah Fogle, 6, and Aja Fogle, 5. That allows the D.C. public defender's office to launch an investigation as part of its legal defense of Jacks.

Pierre-Louis said she was confident of her ruling "because of the circumstances revolving around the deaths."

Jacks has been jailed since the bodies were found Jan. 9 by U.S. marshals, who came to her house on Sixth Street in Southeast Washington to evict her for not paying rent. Her husband had died of cancer a year earlier.

The discovery prompted a city investigation into the family's contacts with social service agencies. Fenty fired six workers who he said failed to act urgently enough to help the family and has vowed to change city policies to better assist those in danger.

Fenty said he still considers the case "shocking."

"This is one of the most, if not the most, heart-wrenching and heartbreaking cases ever to happen in the District of Columbia," he said.

Jacks told investigators that her eldest daughter was wicked and a bad influence on her siblings. She told police that the four girls, whom she withdrew from school in the spring, died in their sleep.

Investigators have not been able to tell how long the girls had been dead before their bodies were found.

Pierre-Louis, who described the bodies as "skeletonized," said her staff members were continuing to analyze the insects found inside the corpses in hopes of determining when the girls died. She said the bodies had been in the house for at least two weeks and as long as several months.

Once the public defender's office finishes its investigation, the bodies will be released to relatives, Pierre-Louis said. The four girls have at least two sets of paternal grandparents. The paternity of three of the girls has been determined.

The city will help arrange and pay for funerals with constituent services funds, Fenty said. He added that he is awaiting direction from the family.

Jessie Fogle, the grandmother of N'Kiah and Aja, said she would consult with one of the other grandmothers before making funeral arrangements. "We're going to do it together," Fogle said yesterday.