Son arrested in decapitation slaying of Jacksonville woman
By Dan Scanlan
Scratches on his face and blood under his fingernails - that's what members of Jumar D. Henry's church saw Sunday and reported to police.
Little did they know the decapitated body of his mother lie in her home in the 1500 block of West Sixth Street, her head tossed out in a black plastic bag three blocks away.
Police admit they don't know what led up to the gruesome Saturday night death of 43-year-old Jennifer Renee-Henry Ling as her 21-year-old son sits in the Duval County jail charged with murder.
"We don't know at this point. We just don't know," said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Larry Schmitt.
As white-suited police evidence technicians combed the tidy one-story home just blocks away from the historic Edward Waters College campus, neighbors wonder what happened too.
One of many watching Monday's forensic investigation from their porches said any time she saw Henry, who lived in the 1000 block of North Liberty Street, he
"acted weird." She and others within earshot of the home said they heard nothing Saturday night, but the aftermath horrified Rosetta Mondul, who has lived across the street since 1946.
"It was horrible," Mondul said. "It was terrible. I have never seen anything like this in my life."
Family members
found Ling's body inside her home about 1:15 p.m. Sunday and called police. Shortly after that, police
received another call about the discovery of a head in a bag a few blocks away in one of the empty grassy lots that rings Dot and Tyler streets.
Ling's boyfriend said he had spoken to her on the telephone about 8:45 p.m. Saturday, and she indicated her son was with her. Witnesses at the site of the decapitated head's discovery said they
saw the son walk to the back of a lot about 9:50 p.m. carrying a bag, then return without it a few minutes later.
At 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Henry's father saw his son with injuries to his head but was told he'd been beaten by some men. Police wouldn't say where Henry's injuries came from, his arrest photograph showing an obvious bruise on his forehead.
When Henry went to church Sunday morning, members saw the blood and the head injury and called police. He came to the Sheriff's Office with family members for an interview but didn't want to stay after being told he couldn't leave about 1:15 p.m., Schmitt said.
"Henry attempted to force his way out of the homicide office and it took several officers and detectives to subdue him," Schmitt said.
That escape attempt added three counts of battery on a police officer to Henry's docket, said Schmitt, who wouldn't elaborate on what was used to kill his mother or cut off her head. Whether Ling was dead before her head was removed will be up to the medical examiner to determine, he added.
Ineligible for bail, Henry faced his first court appearance Monday. He has one prior arrest for grand theft and no convictions, police said. Members of Ling's family could not be reached for comment.
dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549
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Originally Posted by beli
that would show that he was aware that what he did was wrong. 
