A 78-year-old Brooklyn woman found dead in a pool of blood Monday night was beaten in the head with a hammer before being strangled, officials said.
Though authorities originally suspected that Edna Pierre-Jacques was beaten to death with a hammer since the broken weapon was recovered near her body, a Medical Examiner determined yesterday the elder died by strangulation, according to DNAinfo.
NYPD: 78yo Edna Pierre-Jacques found dead with head trauma late last night inside her East Flatbush, Brooklyn home….
Posted by Andrea Grymes on Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Sources told the New York Post that the culprit used extreme force while attacking the grandmother.
“There was some blunt force trauma to her head but that was not the cause of death, it was strangulation,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce Boyce said during Wednesday’s press conference. “Right now, it’s a forensic investigation, we have no eyewitnesses.”
The Medical Examiner deemed Pierre-Jacques’ death a homicide on Tuesday. The Post reported that Pierre-Jacques’ husband was home when her daughter and granddaughter discovered her body at around 10 pm. Police allegedly located a hammer with a broken head at the scene.
The 78-year-old had four grown children. Investigators reportedly questioned her family. Sources claimed investigators found several poker machines in the basement of the home, indicating they may have been part of an illegal gambling operation.
Boyce said the husband, who was the only other person home at the time, is being treated as a suspect. While there is no documented history of domestic abuse, friends claimed he would mock Pierre-Jacques for enjoying herself, calling her “crazy woman.”
“They weren’t talking. She never talked about him. They were just living in the same house,” Patricia Hagely, 60, told DNAinfo.
No arrests have been made.
[Feature Photo: Facebook]