A woman found fatally stabbed in the burnt-out ruins of her Brooklyn apartment had years ago lost custody of her children, struggled with drug use and kept bad company that may have resulted in her death, according to her children’s adoptive brother.
“Claudette was involved with drugs,” said Anthony Grimes, 69, whose mother years ago adopted the children of 66-year-old Claudette Jones. “She lived with a dude that was on drugs. She had many people in and out of her home.”
“It’s probably a feud over drugs or some money,” said Grimes. “She was into doing a lot of things.”
Police found Jones’s body inside the kitchen of her E. 56th St. apartment near Flatlands Ave. in Flatlands around 3:16 p.m. on Tuesday, according to police.
Jones’s body was riddled with stab wounds, according to police, who were scouring the area for surveillance footage in search of anyone entering or leaving the victim’s apartment.
Jones lived alone in the apartment after a fire erupted in a rear bedroom on Nov. 30, 2022, leaving her home without electricity and reeking of smoke, according to neighbors and firefighters.
“It had a fire in most of the house… She stayed in the middle floor,” said Sherwyn Cozier, 46. “That’s where she took me one time when I came down here to make sure she was ok.”
But Jones told Cozier a man joined her at the dilapidated apartment about three weeks ago, he said.
“She said some man, some friend of hers was staying with her,” said Cozier.
Police found Jones dead in the kitchen after workers trying to schedule repairs at Jones building failed to contact her. They called the victim’s family, who in turn notified police that she could not be reached.
Jones had two children, Connie and Darnell, who were put up for adoption at a young age due to their mother’s on-and-off struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, according to Grimes.
“She was involved with narcotics, but she got clean,” said Grimes. “The kids was taken away.”
Grimes said Jones would achieve brief periods of sobriety before falling back into her bad habits.
“From what Connie explained to us, she got clean and then she continued using again,” said Grimes. “Whatever that woman went through it still doesn’t constitute that her life be taken.”
Few of Jones’ neighbors knew her intimately, with one woman saying she only realized the apartment was occupied after Tuesday’s grim discovery.
“I didn’t even know someone was still there,” said 53-year-old Sophia Palmer, who lives two doors down from the crime scene that’s emerged on her block.
“I’ve lived her since 2014. Nothing like that has ever happened in the neighborhood,” Palmer added. “People here are quiet. It’s a surprise. Nothing ever happened like this.”
Cozier said he got to know Jones after he spotted his neighbor, who walked with a cane, ambling up E. 56th St. and offered her a ride.
“She was in bad shape, barely making it up the block,” said Cozier. “That’s the first time I met her. I saw her struggling and i said, ‘Let me give you a ride’.”