Homicide Charge for Man Who Cut Brake Lines to Make Crack Pipe

The boyfriend of a woman who was killed when her car slammed into a tree has admitted to cutting the brake lines to fashion a crack pipe.

Pennsylvania police say that 39-year-old John Jenkins Jr. admitted during an interview that he had cut the brake lines on Tammy Fox’s car the night before the fatal crash on Aug. 22. in Lackawanna County.

The mother of five was driving her black Hyundai Sonata at around 10 a.m. in Scranton when “her vehicle began to accelerate,” police said in a news release. The car crossed through an intersection before it “violently struck a tree.”

Fox, 38, died the same day from injuries sustained in the crash, less than two miles from her home in Scranton.

“A mechanical inspection and search of Fox’s vehicle showed that the brake lines had been cut,” wrote Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Bob Urban on Twitter.

The police began an investigation after finding signs of tampering, and on Aug. 29, announced that Jenkins had been charged with criminal homicide.

“During an interview, he admitted that on the evening prior to the crash he cut the victim’s brake lines while at their residence in an attempt to obtain a metal pipe that could be used to smoke crack cocaine.”

According to WNEP, Jenkins told police that he has no knowledge of cars, and “cut anything from underneath the vehicle that could be used to smoke crack.”

Jenkins Jr. is now in the Lackawanna County Correctional Facility.

The tampering to the vehicle was only uncovered by a routine inspection of the car following the accident.

Trooper Urban told WNEP that the case demonstrated the value of checking vehicles after a fatal crash to check for problems.

“99 percent of the time it’s mainly operator error,“ Urban said, ”but then when you look into it and that’s why we have these inspections of vehicles, then we determine, ‘Hey! This time it wasn’t the operator.’ This vehicle was actually tampered with and that’s what caused the death in this crash.”

Eye-witnesses say the car was traveling around 50-60 mph, and that the brake lights flashed on and off, but the vehicle didn’t slow, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

A crowdfunding page was set up initially to help Fox’s family cover the cost of funeral expenses, but then changed to asking for costs to help get justice.

The page paid homage to Fox, saying she “had the ability to bring light to dark times and gave selflessly to those around her.”

Her obituary stated, “A devoted member of the AA community and a deeply religious woman, Tammy will be greatly missed but with us in spirit, as she joins her mother in Heaven. She is gone too soon, but made the world a better place.”

Any money left over from the Gofundme campaign goal of $7,500 will go to Fox’s five children.

Fox was born in Jersey City and a graduate of Scranton High School and Lackawanna College. Her funeral was held on Monday, Aug. 27.

According to her GoFundMe page, she leaves behind “a family of sisters, nieces, and nephews who loved her beyond words.”