http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20100303/NEWS/100303071
Views??? He is a cold blooded murder!! PERIOD!!!
UPDATE: Neighbors, family offer views of father accused of abandoning toddler, slaying mother
By ESTEBAN PARRA and KEN SERRANO
GANNETT STAFF WRITERS
Neighbors on Weldon Road in Edison say Dwayne Jackson is a typical suburban family man who spent time with his children and was always willing to help a friend.
Prosecutors say he is a killer who asphyxiated his mistress - the mother of his daughter - and dumped her burning body in a New York state park.
Patricia Belizaire, the woman Jackson is accused of killing, is remembered as a devout Christian and devoted mother.
But friends and neighbors say she made bad relationship decisions and ended up living in fear and moving from home to home.
Their daughter - 20-month-old Hannah Jackson - ended up locked and crying in the bathroom of a Newark, Del., gas station, according to police and prosecutors.
New Castle County (Del.) Family Court decided Wednesday that Hannah will stay indefinitely in Delaware, where she has been living with a foster family since Feb. 21, the day she was found at the gas station.
Hannah was not at the hearing Wednesday, but some of Belizaire's relatives from New Jersey turned out to express an interest in caring for the girl, said Nick Krayer of the state Office of the Child Advocate, who represented the girl in court.
"There are some relatives that have come forward," Krayer said, adding they will not be allowed to see Hannah until they are investigated by authorities in Delaware and New Jersey. "We are going to explore them to determine if they are appropriate and hopefully in the future ... we can get her to her relatives."
As soon as family members are deemed fit to be with Hannah, Family Court will allow visits, he said.
"She wouldn't just be dumped from one foster home to the (adoptive) parents," Krayer said. "She would start by being reintroduced to each family member and they would gradually build up trust with her because obviously she's been through a traumatic experience."
Family members had not officially filed for Hannah's custody as of Wednesday, he said. While some have come forward, others are still learning details about what happened to Belizaire, who left Florida for New Jersey shortly after turning 18. They include her father, Ernest Belizaire, who flew from Florida to New Jersey Wednesday but has not been able to talk to an official to discuss his daughter's death.
"I need to go to New Brunswick," he said, referring to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. "I went there, but their office was closed."
Ernest Belizaire, reached by cell phone Wednesday, also was looking for his granddaughter, asking reporters to take her to where he is staying.
Patricia Belizaire was born in Haiti. Her family moved to southern Florida, where she grew up, her father said. Her mother died in a car accident when Belizaire was 3, he said. Ernest Belizaire didn't know why Patricia moved to New Jersey after turning 18, though her mother had relatives there.
"Teenagers sometimes they are crazy for no reason," he said. "She just made the decision."
Ralphie Belizaire, a distant cousin of Patricia's, said through Facebook e-mail that she was interested in family, adding they found each other on Facebook. "(We) happened to run across each other because of our last names."
She added that her cousin always called if they hadn't spoken in a few days.
"She was a sweet person and loved her daughter," Ralphie Belizaire said.
Patricia Belizaire's friend, Mary Dareus Belcher, said through Facebook that she was in an abusive relationship, though she didn't know details.
"The only thing I know is that he was abusive and he wanted her gone," she said in a Facebook message.
New Jersey prosecutors, who said Jackson is Hannah's father, will not comment on the abuse allegations.
"It would be premature and really, really improper for me to comment on that," said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch, whose office is handling the murder case.
Tamara Moss, who knew the victim, said Belizaire lived in fear and confided in her about a bad relationship. At one point, Belizaire moved out of her Oakleaf Village apartment to get away from someone, Moss said. After she moved, the apartment was broken into and vandalized, she added.
Moss said the incident was reported to North Brunswick police, who referred comment to Middlesex County prosecutors. Belizaire eventually returned to the Oakleaf Village apartments, where she lived in a one-bedroom apartment with Hannah. Middlesex County authorities say she was killed in the apartment. "She lived a very sad life," Moss said, adding Belizaire was often sick and sometimes suffered seizures. Yet, she was a positive person reminding people to pray."
"She had faith and hope," Moss said. "It still hurts -- what happened to her."
Belizaire once worked at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where Jackson was a security guard. Though she no longer was an employee there, she continued to work in the medical field, Moss said.
"I considered her as my angel," she said.
Jackson is accused of killing Belizaire the morning of Sunday, Feb. 21, at her Oakleaf Village apartment. He took Hannah that same day to Delaware, where he left her at the College Avenue Shell station, police said.
Sewitch, the New Jersey prosecutor, did not know if the child witnessed the killing. After abandoning the girl, Jackson returned to North Brunswick, where he picked up Belizaire's body, authorities say.
"Then, under cover of darkness in the early morning hours of the 22nd, (he) took the body to Ramapo, N.Y., where he set the body on fire in a park," Sewitch said. "We do have an idea of a motive," Sewitch said. "We are investigating further, so at this time it would be premature to comment on that."
The accusations against Jackson have left neighbors in disbelief.
"This is something that really surprised us," said Gloria Garcia, who along with her husband Tulio, lived next door to Jackson for about a decade. Jackson lived on Weldon Road in Edison with his wife, Lizette, her 12-year-old daughter, and the couple's two young boys.
Although snow still covered the front lawn of Jackson's home, a clean sidewalk led to the white one-story ranch house. A wrought-iron mailbox stood between the home's entrance and a wooden bench and seat. The home's curtains were closed, preventing anyone from looking into the house.
The couple originally lived in a back section of the ranch-style home while Jackson's in-laws lived in the front portion. But when the in-laws left, the Jacksons moved to the front of the house and rented the back. In one of his first conversations with the Garcias, Jackson told them he had been in the Marines.
Jackson joined the Corps three months after 9/11, and left active duty in December 2005, Marine Maj. Shawn Haney said. He achieved the rank of lance corporal and worked as a personnel clerk, Haney said. His last assignment was at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
His house is now vacant, neighbors said. They suspect Lizette Jackson moved to her parents' house in Pennsylvania.
The last time Gloria Garcia saw Jackson's wife was Ash Wednesday as she walked to St. Matthew the Apostle Church a few blocks away.
Among their memories of Jackson are the times he spent playing with his young sons, the neighbors said. He set up a fireworks display in his backyard during the last Fourth of July and asked the Garcias if the children could watch from their yard to keep from getting hurt. Before leaving for work that night, he gave the children sparklers, Gloria Garcia said.
About the only thing the Garcias found odd about Jackson was that during the recent snowstorms, he would walk out of his house with no shirt and no shoes to get the mail or throw out the trash.
"Aren't you cold?" Tulio Garcia asked him, to which Jackson replied, "No. I'm just preparing myself for the Polar Bear Plunge."
Gloria Garcia, who said her legs shook when she learned of the charges against Jackson, still wonders if she and police are talking about the same person. But she admits hearing about Hannah Jackson being missing and wondered what sort of parent would abandon her.
"I am positive something big happened to him," she said. "You know when you are mad you never know what you are doing. Who thinks their neighbor would do something like that?"
This article was written by Esteban Parra, a reporter for the News-Journal, a Gannett newspaper in New Castle, Del. Home News Tribune staff writer Ken Serrano contributed to this report.
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