SCRANTON, PA (WNEP/CNN) – Officers in Pennsylvania believe a 39-year-old man's actions were linked to his girlfriend’s death, saying he tampered with her car the day before she died in a violent crash.
According to court papers, 39-year-old John Jenkins and his girlfriend Tammy Fox were together Aug. 21, the night before Fox died in a car crash.
Jenkins said Fox was "driving him crazy" because she was looking for a pipe to smoke crack cocaine. He said he had no knowledge of cars but "cut anything from underneath the vehicle" that could be used as a pipe, according to the papers.
Troopers say a mechanical check of the vehicle revealed the brake lines had been cut.
"Can't you find something else around the house to smoke crack in? Aluminum foil? Something else. I'm pretty sure if you're a career crackhead you can find something else besides a brake line to smoke crack in," said one of Fox’s friends.
Fox died Aug. 22 when her car crashed into several parked cars and a tree. The crash site is now a memorial to the mother of five, and friends are raising money on GoFundMe to support the family and pay for funeral expenses.
Lisa Vargas, who had been friends with Fox for more than two decades, says she had a bad feeling about Jenkins, even though she hadn’t met him.
She doesn't buy the explanation that his actions were drug-related.
"I just never bought that it was just an accident. I knew it in my heart, and I just want justice for her. I really do," Vargas said.
Fox was a key witness in a case against several former Lackawanna County corrections officers accused of sexually abusing female inmates. She was also a plaintiff in a federal civil lawsuit against those officers and several Lackawanna county offices.
Friends describe Fox as a loving woman and wonderful person who deserves honor and respect.
Jenkins is being held in prison without bail.
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