A North Carolina man has been charged with murdering his mother and teenage brother just six days after being released from prison.
Da’ron Jenkins, 25, had walked free on Tuesday last week after serving more than five years for stealing guns and burglarizing vehicles, WITN reported — with his mom, Dana Jenkins, 50, writing on Facebook: “MY BABY IS HOME !! LORD I THX U!!”
But Jenkins was swiftly back behind bars, charged with the first-degree murders of his mom and his 15-year-old brother Daryn Cox, who were found dead in their home in Wilson, about 40 miles east of Raleigh.
Authorities have not said how the two died nor given a suspected motive.
However, Julia Kornegay, a cousin who lives next door, told CBS 17 that mother and son were stabbed to death — with their bodies found hours after she saw the suspect “looking like he just got out a mental ward.”
“The look on his face told me he’d done something. His hand was cut up. And he had a bandage on his hand,” she said of seeing Jenkins around 3 a.m. Monday.
Jenkins had been showing alarming signs since being freed from prison, the cousin said.
“I’m hurt because I knew he was going to do something,” Kornegay said. “You can just see he was so fidgety. He was so anxious. He could not stay still. He had that sneakiness about him. Like a crazy person trying to get ready to do something, like premeditation.”
Da’ron Jenkins was arrested and booked in Wilson County jail without bond. He made an initial court appearance in court on Tuesday.
Daryn and his mother were both remembered by their local church community.
“They loved each other. They loved us. We loved them,” Bishop Sherman Blandon of Mount Moriah Community Church, told ABC 11.
“Especially Daryn — he meant the world to all of us. Our teens here, they’re there grieving heavily. My children, the adults here, they, the entire city, his colleagues at school, teachers. It’s just rough and unfortunate.”