A Jersey City mother and her two young children were killed in an apartment blaze after a disgruntled ex-boyfriend set a fire – meant for someone else.
Jobina Walker, 26, and her two children, Monique Walker, 4, and Ramal Witherspoon, 2, were found dead, huddled together beneath a window on the top floor of a three-story building at 132 Wilkerson Ave.
Walker’s husband and the couple’s other two children, ages 9 and 10, all escaped and were treated at nearby hospitals.
Hudson County officials arrested Kurtis Jones, 23, yesterday and charged him with three counts of murder. He is being held on $3 million bail.
Assistant Prosecutor Pat Raviola said Jones had recently been booted out of the first-floor apartment he had shared with a woman whose identity was withheld.
But at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Jones returned to the building, ostensibly to collect some private goods, Raviola said. His stay was brief – a stop at a rear bedroom, stuffing the items into a bag and leaving.
“Shortly after he left, she smells smoke, and it’s the bedroom on fire,” Raviola said.
The tenants on the top floor got the worst of it.
“The people on the first floor, including the ex-girlfriend, escaped safely, [but] the fire went up the stairwell,” said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.
Jones had been in a relationship with the unnamed woman, but she broke it off some time within the previous week, Raviola said.
Jones was arrested at the scene after others on the block pointed him out, Raviola said. He offered no resistance.
The fire, which caused minor damage to nearby buildings, left 20 people homeless.
Lisa Suber leapt to safety from a second-story window after dropping her three kids to onlookers. Suber said she had no choice – when she opened her apartment door, she saw flames had already filled the hallway.
Jones is being held at the county jail in Kearny.