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GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A man strangled a woman and her two children with a dog lead in a northern Michigan trailer then used it to hang himself from a TV antenna outside the home, state police said Tuesday.
James Jackson Sr., 39, killed 24-year-old Cecelia Woods, 3-year-old Keyon Jackson and 2-year-old James Jackson Jr. on Saturday at the home in Oscoda County's Greenwood Township, about 180 miles north-northwest of Detroit, before killing himself.
"Just prior to his own death, Jackson Sr. contacted numerous people, confessing that he had killed Woods and the children, and his intention to kill himself," state police said in a statement. "He also posted a suicide note on the refrigerator door."
Police didn't say what happened before the killings, but said Woods had a fractured skull and investigators believe she was injured before she was strangled.
"The investigation has found nothing inconsistent with a homicide/suicide occurrence," police said.
Oscoda County sheriff's deputies responding to a 911 call found James Jackson Sr. hanging from his neck outside the home and the dog-lead cable was tied to a roof vent at the home. They found Woods in a bedroom, Keyon in another bedroom and James Jr. in the living room.
They were all declared dead at the scene, police said.
Nancy McMaster told WFQX-TV that Woods was her daughter and James Jackson Sr. was her daughter's estranged boyfriend and the father of James Jackson Jr. The suburban Detroit woman said the father of Keyon died some time before. She provided no details of the circumstances of his death.
She said Jackson had a history of abusing her daughter and had been jailed for domestic violence.
"Cecelia had one of the most giving hearts," McMaster said. "She would give and give, and she would go without to give to somebody else."
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