The Misery Machine - Banita Jacks: The DC Horror House

Episode Date: May 9, 2022

This week, Drewby and Yergy discuss a tragic case of Banita Jacks, a Washington, DC mother who held her four daughters hostage, believing them to be demons. This case highlights the failure of DC social services agencies that had reasonable suspicion and urging from a caseworker that the girls were in danger, but ultimately did nothing. Check out Hollie's masks here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HollsNDolls Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58314704/nathaniel-fogle https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130867786/brittany-marie-jacks https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36687562/tatianna-mecca_danielle-jacks

What would you do if your friend or family member was showing clear signs of mental illness after the death of their partner? Would you step in and help? Let's say you're a grandparent, and you've not been in contact with your daughter and grandkids in two years. You'd eventually try to reach out, right? Let's say your neighbor's kids were showing serious signs of neglect, and then soon after, all of them disappeared. And your neighbor starts exhibiting bizarre behavior. You'd at least call the police or social services for a wellness check, wouldn't you? In today's story, none of these people did any of these things,

aside from a lone social worker whose cries went unheard, which in turn led to disaster. The nation's capital is a great place to visit, especially during the springtime when you can catch the cherry blossoms blooming around the banks of the Potomac River, if you're lucky. Washington, D.C. boasts a lot of amazing things. countless museums that don't charge a feet a visit, some of the craziest drivers I've ever seen, and some of the best Indian food I've ever eaten.

It's home to a wide variety of animals that make their home at the National Zoo, so many monuments that are so much bigger in person, and hip neighborhoods that make me wish that I was rich enough to actually live in D.C. And that's where today's story takes place. The case that we have for you today was sent into us by our listener Lisa, who sent us an email, as well as another listener, Tish Ann B, who suggested the same case the following day in our comment section. I know we mentioned previously that we might opt to scale back some of our coverage of cases

relating to minors, but full transparency. These cases are the ones that you, the listeners, are overwhelmingly requesting. With this in mind, we will try our best to continue to cover these cases when we can on a case-by-case basis with the utmost respect and care. But please keep in mind that in doing so, we are forced to censor a lot of things in order to abide by YouTube's community guidelines. We feel the same way you do in terms of censorship, but please know that we can't put the work in to honor your case requests and raise awareness if our channel no longer exists. Benita Jacks attended school in Charles County, Maryland. She claims to have left school in the sixth grade. However, her mother, Mamie Jacks, contested that she left school officially her sophomore year at

age 17 when she became pregnant with her first daughter, Brittany Marie Jacks, on January 5th, 1991. On October 9, 1996, Benita gave birth to her second daughter, Tatiana Mecca Danielle Jaxe. While working as a hairdresser in the year 2000, Benita met a man by the name of Nathaniel Fogel Jr. Together, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Nakaya, in 2001, followed by their daughter Asia in 2002. In 2005, Benina and her four daughters moved in with Benita's mother, Mamie Jacks, after being evicted from their home, but moved out soon after due to Mamie not allowing Nathaniel to move in with them. The family drifted to several different places, including a homeless shelter, before a non-profit organization helped them move into a row house in Washington, D.C. in August of 2006.

However, the family's good fortune didn't last long as Nathaniel Fogel Jr. passed away to cancer on February 19, 2007. He was only 37 years old and was laid to rest at the Church of God's Cemetery in Lothian Maryland. After Nathaniel's death, Benita grew increasingly isolated. She did not attend his funeral, and family members said that she did not even tell her daughters that he had passed away. According to Nathaniel's mother, she had come by Benita's home several times in order to see her grandda. But Benita would either call her and tell her not to come, or simply wouldn't answer the door. Neighbors and family members described Benita as a caring and attentive mother until the period following Nathaniel's passing. Mamie Jacks hadn't seen Benita or her four grandda since 2005, but has stated that she had no reason to believe they were in any danger.

Mamie had made a call to Charles County Social Services in 2006, but only to obtain information regarding the family's whereabouts. She's been quoted as saying, quote, I never saw her mistreat the girls and the girls. girls never complained about her mistreatment, end quote. However, a family friend of Benita and Nathaniel named LaShawn Ragland had other opinions. The family had lived with LaShawn for a period of time in 2006, prior to finding their own housing. LaShawn stated there were frequent arguments between Benina and her oldest daughter, Brittany, and that Benita would punish her by denying her food and isolating her from her sisters.

LaShawn also claimed that Benita and Nathaniel would allow the two youngest to smoke while the two parents laughed. Another friend stated that Benita once drove Brittany to Mamie Jack's house in Waldorf, Maryland, and left her there. But Mamie wasn't home, and Britney was left unintended on the porch for 10 hours. At one point, one of Benita's friends even drafted a custody agreement hoping to remove Brittany from Benita's care. A neighbor noted that in March of 2007, Benita had taken the neighbor's daughter, along with Benita's own four daughters on a trip to McDonald's. The neighbor attested that Benita's daughters always looked clean and done up, and Benita always took great pride in making sure their hair looked nice. However, when the neighbor saw the

family, the girls were wearing white t-shirts with rags on their heads. Benita also told the neighbor that her food stamps were being discontinued, and she was reluctant to file for them as the paperwork was just too much for her to handle. Soon after, Benita's oldest daughter, Britney Jacks, went missing. Brittany's boyfriend Lepoy Kelly claimed that he saw Britney for the last time in March of 2007 after Brittany had been absent from school for about a month. La Poy also stated that Brittany seemed a little sad. After their brief visit, Brittany stopped responding to Lepoy's calls to her cell phone or messages to her MySpace account, which was a huge cause for concern.

The mid-aughts was the dawn of social media, and teenagers and young adults were glued to their MySpace accounts. This alone was a massive red flag. As a result of her absenteeism, in April and May of 2007, social worker Kathleen Lopez made repeated attempts to verify Brittany's safety. At the time, Lopez was an employee of Booker T. Washington Charter School where Brittany was a student. On April 27th, Lopez visited the Jack's home with a police officer and another school employee, but Benita Jacks refused to allow them inside.

Lopez noted that she saw the two younger girls in the living room and that they appeared on Kat. So over the next several days, Lopez made repeated calls to CFSA and the police department. And as a result of her calls, Sergeant James LaFranchise finally made a visit to the Jacks family home on April 30th, 2007. And he spoke with Benita in her front yard. However, LaFranchise did not file a report for this visit until January 9, 2008, which was over eight months. after his visit. At the time the visit was made, such reports were not required. In the initial report, he said that he had seen only the three younger girls on his visit.

He filed a follow-up report on January 13th that said he thought he had seen Brittany as well. He reported the girls, including Brittany, appeared clean and well-fed, healthy and playful. However, later, the sergeant changed his story. He said that he had not seen Brittany at the house at all. He said that he had not been told to look for a teenager and assumed that he was there to check on the three younger girls, even though he spoke with Lopez on his cell phone while he was at the Jack's home. On May 10th, Lopez wrote a letter to the Youth Social Services Division

of the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, expressing her fear that Britney Jacks was being held hostage. However, social workers did not investigate her concerns. Instead, they left notice. is on the door of the Jack's family home, eventually assuming that the family had relocated to Charles County, Maryland, and closed the case without doing anything to confirm that they did indeed move to Charles County. In May of 2007, Benita moved all the furniture from her house into the backyard and started losing weight. She told another neighbor whom she often asked for

water and cigarettes that she had cancer. During the summer, Benita's neighbors smelled a foul odor in the area, which some guessed was a dead rat. The last person to see any of Benita's daughters was a neighbor and family friend, Tijuana Richardson, who delivered social security checks to Benita twice a month. Tijuana stated that she saw the two youngest girls in the family's living room in June of 2007, but claimed she had not seen Brittany Jacks for several months. A singular source indicated that Benita may have pulled all four of her girls from their respective schools under the guise of homeschooling, which is a common theme in these cases. However, due to lack of concrete evidence, we cannot confirm this as fact. During the summer and into

early fall of 2007, the DC Water and Sewer Authority disconnected the service to the Jack's home due to non-payments. Soon after, the Potomac Electric Power Company disconnected service as well. On January 9th, 2008, at around 10 a.m., the date that Sergeant LaFranchise conveniently filed his report on the Jack's family home, over eight months after the actual date of his visit, federal marshals came to Benita's home on the 4,200 block of 6th Street southeast to serve her with an eviction. The mother came to the door wearing only a white t-shirt with brown smudge marks on it and refused to allow them in six. side. When the U.S. Marshals identified themselves, Benita attempted to shut and lock the door, but one of the marshals placed his boot in the doorway and they forced their way inside the dark home. The U.S. Marshals said they could immediately smell an odor that they described as rotting meat, like stink bait, which they thought was rotten or spoiled food. They began scouring the home

and made their way up a dark staircase, during which Benita made attempts to slow them down or block their path. As they reached the top of the staircase, the U.S. Marshals observed the bodies of the small girls laying in the first bedroom. They were placed side by side and were in an advanced state of decomposition. The three were lined up according to age, each wearing a white t-shirt. The body of Brittany Jacks was in another upstairs bedroom, unclothed and lying on the floor in a pool of blood underneath a white t-shirt. Near her body, what appeared to be a metal steak knife was recovered.

Medical examiners who examined the bodies determined the three younger girls had been strangled in that Brittany had been stabbed repeatedly, but due to the body's high level of decomposition, examiners were unable to definitively attribute these injuries as causing the girl's deaths. It was estimated that their bodies had remained in the home for at least two weeks before they were discovered.

Benita told police that her daughters were possessed by demons and that each of them died in their sleep. over the course of a seven to ten day period. Asia died first, then Nakaya, then Tatiana, and finally Brittany. Benita claims that the sisters found Asia's death to be funny. According to Benita, Nakaya died the next night, followed by Tatiana, who, by Benita's omission, had green stuff pouring out of her nose and mouth. She claimed that the weaker the girls got, the weaker the demons got. Soon after,

Brittany died as well. She claimed that she put all of the furniture outside for trash pickup because the demons had infiltrated everything in the house. A direct quote from Benita is spirits and demons have a different smell. So little

by little, I had to get rid of everything. She reported that all the deaths occurred sometime before the electricity in her house was disconnected, which records indicate was September 5th of 2007, which was four months longer than the estimated time of death that the medical examiner surmised. In the end, pathologists concluded that the girls had been deceased for at least seven months. The medical examiner was able to determine that Brittany actually

died first, as her body was nearly skeletonized and was beginning to seep through the hardwood floor. Based on evidence found at the scene, it was believed that Brittany actually was being held hostage in the home. Her bedroom door was locked from the outside, and a bed sheet covered her window that overlooked an alleyway. Brittany wasn't even allowed to use the bathroom, and human waste was discovered in the bedroom closet. Benita told police that she kept Brittany in her room so she wouldn't influence her sisters.

She described a chaotic life after her living boyfriend of seven years, Nathaniel Fogel Jr. died of cancer in February of 2007. She claimed that Nathaniel appeared to her in a dream and told her that all four girls would be taken from her. A quote from Benita was, to stop my suffering, Nathaniel took them, but they would be resurrected, end quote. Benita said Nathaniel told her in the dream that for the two of them to be together again, she would have to suffer.

Benita claimed that she never tried to call authorities to remove their bodies because she didn't trust the agencies, and because she thought if she notified emergency personnel that would cause her more problems. She also noted that she had not fed her daughter's food for a substantial period of time prior to their deaths. Benita was arrested on 12 charges, which included premeditated first-degree homicide, felony homicide, and cruelty to a minor. Her trial began on July 15, 2009, and was held in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

She pleaded not guilty and rejected any sort of insanity defense. So Judge Frederick H. Weisberg was the sole arbiter of her fate. Benita Jackson was found guilty on all charges, with the exception of the first-degree homicide of Brittany, due to the fact that the presiding judge could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Brittany's wounds were not self-inflicted or if they occurred during a struggle with her mother. Following the verdict, Benita was sentenced to 120 years in prison on December 18, 2009, 30 years for each of her daughters.

The presiding judge rejected a motion from her defense team that called into question Benita's earlier refusal to use an insanity plea, and also rejected the defense's suggestion that sentences should run concurrently. In the aftermath of the deaths of the Jacks Fogel daughters, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced findings of a preliminary investigation of district agency involvement and previewed reforms to take place in district government operations in response to the tragedy. In April of 2009, the DC office of the Inspector General released a report implicating not only the CFSA, but several other local government parties for failing to meet their obligations in the Jack's case and potentially

preventing the four deaths. The report also faulted an overall lack of coordination and communication between the various agencies involved with the family. To enhance agency communication and coordination, Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed legislation which was passed into law. This legislation amended the District of Columbia confidentiality rules to make them less rigid and more aligned with what is permitted under the federal privacy laws such as HIPAA and FERPA. Additionally, a rule requiring police reports when checking on the welfare of a resident was instituted in the wake of the Jack Spogel case. As a result of this case, six employees from the Washington, D.C. CFSA, were fired for failing to take action to help the girls before it was too late.

Like many cases involving minors, not much is generally known about the actual young people that lost their lives here. Older sisters Brittany and Tatiana share a grave site in Memorial Stone at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in La Plata, Maryland. They were 16 and 11 years old at the time of their deaths, although some sources claim that Brittany was 17 due to the fact that her exact date of death is uncertain. Nakaya was six years old at the time for death, known by her family as Chunky Monk and attended Meridian Charter Public School where she enjoyed learning to speak Spanish. Nakaya loved coloring, drawing, jumping rope, and playing with her dolls. Her favorite TV shows were SpongeBob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer.

Asia was just five years old when she was discovered deceased along with her three older sisters. She attended the same school as her sister Nakaya, and both of them shared a lot of the same hobbies. Her family nickname was Red Baron, but sadly, burial details as well as dates of birth for both Nakaya, and Asia are just not available. In fact, none of the sisters have an actual obituary outside of Find agrave.com. In May of 2013, the district agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought in the deaths of the Jack Spogel sisters, with the money going to those the city described as the

legal heirs of their estates. As part of a settlement, the D.C. Attorney General's office said those who have sued have agreed to donate part of the money to safe shores, a non-profit charity devoted to the needs of those affected by CA in neglect. This case was hard to find information for especially very detailed, intricate information, but one thing that stands out to me in this case compared to other cases we've done that are similar, the fact that Benita Jacks received no psychological evaluation is surprising. to me. Now, I'm not here to say that she should or should not have gotten off on an insanity defense. We just don't have the information to that. And in order to conclude that, one would have to

undergo a psychological evaluation, which is quite common in these court proceedings. I think they really did her a disservice by not even exploring what her mental stability was, and at least providing that evidence one way or the other. Now, well, it should be mentioned. that the demons that Benita claimed were in her daughters is a part of official news sources. I was watching an interview with Mitch Creadle. I hope I said your name correctly. And he was one of the detectives who interviewed Benita Jackson.

He claimed that during the interview, she never once mentioned anything about possession or anything supernatural. She just said that her daughters were asleep and they didn't wake up. So, take that for what it is. Now, again, this isn't to say that Benita should have gotten insanity or not, but I'm someone who wants all the facts when it comes to a case like this, as I'm sure most of you do.

And in this case, I don't feel we got all of the facts. As it stands right now, Benita will be spending the rest of her life in prison. Sorry about Prada. We'll be spending the rest of her life in prison as she was sentenced to 120 years, and the likelihood of appeal is... highly unlikely in my opinion. I want to give a shout out to the YouTube channel cop stories. Check them out. It's hosted by a former police detective from Washington, D.C., Mitch Creadle. He shared his story on the Benita Jack's case, which he had direct involvement with, as well as other cases throughout his career.

I highly suggest you check it out. We also have a very wonderful group of people going that extra step to support us on Patreon. I will put their names up right now. I want to say welcome to three new patrons, Maggie, Kirsten, and Deborah. Shout out to our Levi-Tierre patrons, Levi, Holly, Chaka, Amelia, and Casa de Cadejo. There's their lovely pictures right now. Very special shout out to our girl, you nasty tier, featuring a number that I'm not allowed to say on YouTube because it's banned. Dom, thank you so much for being as nasty as you are. And very, very special shout out to our highest tier Patreon supporters, Kiki and Melissa. There's their lovely pictures right now. And if you two want to support on Patreon.

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