A STATEN Island mother, and not her son, reportedly slit the throats of her three children and then started a fire that killed her and another child.

Police initially suspected Leisa Jones' oldest child, 14-year-old son CJ Romoy, of the crime.



But autopsy results showed that neither he nor his two sisters, aged seven and 10, suffered any smoke inhalation - meaning they were dead before the fire was set in their home, The New York Post reports.

All three children were found with their throats slashed by an old-fashioned barber's straight razor, sources said.

Meanwhile, Jones and her younger son, Jermaine, two, both died from smoke inhalation, leaving investigators with "conclusive proof" that Jones murdered her three older children first, then set the blaze, trapping herself and the toddler.

Both Jones and Romoy still had undigested pills in their stomachs, a source told The NY Post. Some investigators speculated that this was because she may have needed to drug the teen before she could kill him, and then took pills herself. Sources could not identify the drugs.

Police confirmed Sunday (local time) that a singed note found amid the debris with the words "am sorry" was written by the mother.

Jones reportedly told a friend several months ago that she thought about killing her children and torching the house. 

Romoy's dad, Earlston Raymond, said the friend told him Jones told her: "At times, I feel like killing the kids and burning the house down and killing myself."

"(Jones) made that statement to more than one person," said the distraught dad, who lives in Jamaica and said he learned of his ex's threats only after the tragedy.

The bodies of Jones, 30, and her children were found on Thursday after the pre-dawn fire. Investigators had originally set their sights on Romoy because he was known around the neighborhood for playing with fire.

http://www.news.com.au/world/staten-island-mother-leisa-jones-not-son-cj-romoy-slit-her-childrens-throats-report/story-e6frfkyi-1225897279589

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