For most of her adult life, Tammy Fox struggled to fix herself.
When she finally seemed on the verge of at last vanquishing the demons that tortured her, she thought she could fix John Jenkins, too.
It cost Fox her life, family and friends said.
Sometime on Aug. 21, the same day Fox texted her sister she felt trapped in a relationship with Jenkins that had turned toxic, Jenkins cut the brake lines of Fox’s 2004 Hyundai Sonata, according to police.
Fox died the next morning of multiple traumatic injuries after her car hit several parked vehicles and a tree on Pine Street in Scranton. A witness told police the brake lights flashed on and off before the crash, but Fox’s vehicle never slowed.
Fox, 38, a key witness
against several former Lackawanna County Prison guards charged with sexually abusing her and other female inmates, was a victim yet again.
It was a tragic end to a life of struggle marked by repeated bouts with substance abuse that led her to be charged with crimes a half-dozen times between 2003 and 2015, court records show.
Those mistakes are not what defined her, according to family and friends.
“Despite everything she ever went through, the heart that woman has, you couldn’t find a better heart,” said Miriah Ann Canevari, 25, of Blakely, one of Fox’s friends.
She and other friends and family members described Fox as a vibrant, caring woman who put the needs of others ahead of her own.
“She was the most giving person,” said Alicia Berrios, 50, of Daytona Beach, Florida, who knew Fox for about 20 years. “She would do anything for anyone whether she knew you or not. She’d give you her last five dollars.”
Tina Carlucci, 57, of Scranton, who has known the family for decades, said Fox made an impression on everyone she met.
“I can’t even express in words how bubbly her personality was,” Carlucci said. “You couldn’t help but love her. She was just one of those people who really stood out.”
Fox fought through many life challenges over the years, said Stephanie Fox, 32, of Carbondale, one of Fox’s three sisters.
“She was a powerful, strong, wonderful woman,” the younger sister said. “There was no struggle in her life she did not overcome.”
Those struggles included dealing with their troubled mother, Elizabeth Fox of Scranton, who had a substance abuse problem and was arrested five times between 1996 and 2000, primarily for theft and drug-related offenses, court records show. Their mother also was involved in a tumultuous relationship, seeking six protection-from-abuse orders against her partner between 1998 and 2005.
When Elizabeth Fox died in 2006 at age 46, her children took her passing hard, said another daughter, Grace Onderdonk, 40.
“My mother suffered from addiction and so, because of our upbringing with that type of life, all the sisters were incredibly close,” Onderdonk said. “We didn’t have much money growing up, but we had love.”
They found it hard to escape their mother’s troubled legacy.
“We took our mother’s mistakes and tried to learn and not follow in her footsteps the best we could. It’s a genetic disease. We all had our struggles,” Onderdonk said.
Fox seemed to be doing well in 2002, when she graduated from Lackawanna College with an associate degree in business administration. The college had selected her the previous fall to be a team leader for its annual orientation for incoming freshmen.
About 18 months after receiving her degree, she had her first significant run-in with the law. She was charged with criminal trespass after she and several other women broke into a home. They fled after being confronted by the homeowner. She pleaded guilty in February 2004 to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to nine months of probation.
Over the next decade she was jailed multiple times for new charges, including theft and drunken driving, or for violating her probation.
Canevari, a recovering addict who found in Fox a kindred spirit always willing to talk her through her problems, said she doesn’t know what led Fox down that path. While substance abuse may have played a role, Fox never used her addiction as an excuse, she said.
“From my personal experience, there is nothing that makes you go sideways,” Canevari said. “You just have a lot that goes on in your life. You use a drug and that drug takes away your pain, and that’s what you become addicted to — not feeling the pain any more.”
Berrios said Fox was “street smart,” but she also was too trusting.
“You trust the wrong people, plain and simple. That’s how it starts,” Berrios said. “It only takes one person to drag you down. They introduce you to something. It only takes one time.”
She was haunted by the abuse she suffered in prison, people close to her said.
“I think she was a tortured soul based on a number of things that happened to her in her life, prison being one of them,” said attorney Matthew Comerford, who in 2016 filed a federal civil lawsuit against the jail on behalf of Fox and another woman, alleging sexual abuse.
“Some people with trauma get over it. She struggled to get over it. Couple that with being an alcoholic and being addicted, it was a tough cross for her to carry.”
According to Fox’s lawsuit, the sexual abuse began in 2007, when she was jailed for three months for a probation violation on a drunken driving conviction. One guard asked her when he would “get a lap dance,” while another used crude language to suggest she perform oral sex on him, the suit said.
The sexual abuse escalated during each of her subsequent returns to the jail, the lawsuit alleged. Guards would routinely grope her and rubbed their genitals against her body; one guard coerced her into having sex with him while she was out on work release, she said in the complaint.
“The stuff that happened in jail — I think that pushed her over the edge,” said Berrios, who also served time in the county prison.
Berrios was never personally subjected to sexual abuse or harassment, but she suffered mental abuse.
“They treat you like you are the stuff on the bottom of their shoe,” Berrios said. “It’s awful. No human being deserves to be treated like that. ... That is the kind of stuff you don’t recover from.”
Fox tolerated the sexual abuse because the guards rewarded her with extra privileges, the suit said. Comerford said she decided to come forward two years ago after learning two other former female inmates who were sexually abused had sued the jail. The county reached settlements with those women.
Fox’s lawsuit led to a statewide grand jury investigation that in February resulted in the arrest of seven former prison guards on charges of abusing inmates. Three of the men — Mark A. Johnson, James J. Walsh and John Shnipes Jr. — are charged for incidents involving Fox.
Comerford said testifying in the civil and criminal cases took a tremendous emotional toll on Fox.
“You’d see a drastic change in her personality and body language. It was like reliving it,” Comerford said. “She felt like people were looking at her and judging her. She was afraid for her kids. She didn’t want them to be ridiculed and embarrassed.
“She questioned if she did the right thing coming forward. At the end of the day, she didn’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Her death came at a time when her life was on the upswing.
She had been sober for about seven months — one of the longest stretches she ever had, friends said.
Canevari, who said Fox came to visit her shortly before her death, said her friend just wanted to be happy and be a good mother for her five children, ages 4 to 16.
“She fought the hardest I’ve ever seen anybody fight to get clean for so many years. ... This right now was the best she has ever done and then this happens,” Canevari said. “She had a good head on her shoulders, and she was doing what she needed to do to remain sober.”
Comerford shared a text he received from Fox on July 27.
“Aren’t you going to congratulate me on getting a job??” Fox texted him. “I’m finally growing the freak up ... I finally realized I am more than a disabled drug addict!!”
Now her family is committed to seeking justice in civil and criminal court. Comerford said he plans to amend the lawsuit to name Fox’s estate as the plaintiff.
In the criminal case, Jenkins is charged with criminal homicide. His preliminary hearing, scheduled for last Friday, was continued. No new date was set.
Onderdonk said she is not sure how Fox met Jenkins, but believes it was through the recovery community. The couple seemed inseparable. The reality was much darker, Onderdonk said.
“To the outside eye it looked like he adored her,” Onderdonk said. “He was an obsessive, controlling type of man. .... He wouldn’t let her out of his sight.”
The depth of his obsession became clear two weeks after they met.
“He got a tattoo on his neck with her name, ‘Foxy,’” Onderdonk said.
Jenkins has a long history of substance abuse and arrests. Court records show that from 1996 to 2012, he was charged eight times for offenses including drug possession, drunken driving, burglary and simple assault.
Onderdonk and Berrios said they tried to warn Fox that Jenkins was not good for her.
“I can’t say anything good about him, but she loved him,” Berrios said. “She saw the good in him. There wasn’t any. Everyone told her that, but love is blind.”
“Deep down I think Tammy thought she could fix him,” Onderdonk said.
She couldn’t and it cost her everything, she said.
Jenkins told police he cut Fox’s brake lines because she had relapsed and was hounding him to find something they could use to smoke crack.
Her family and friends reject his assertion.
“It’s him trying to take the focus off himself and his actions. He’s trying to smear her name,” Onderdonk said.
Shortly after the family learned of Fox’s death, Jenkins showed up at Onderdonk’s home. No one had any idea he was involved.
“We were consoling with John, crying in his arms,” Onderdonk said. “He knew the whole time. I welcomed him into my home after he killed my sister. You can imagine the pain and guilt I feel.”
While she is intent on finding justice, Onderdonk said she doesn’t want her sister to be remembered solely as a homicide victim.
“I don’t want the circumstances behind her death to take away from her life,” Onderdonk said. “I want people to remember Tammy for who and what she was: a great person.”
Anna Young, 88, of Scranton, who has ministered to inmates in the county prison for more than four decades, said she believes Fox had a special relationship with God. When Fox strayed too far from him, especially those times when she was struggling with her addiction, God would bring her back to the jail to slow her down, Young said.
It probably saved her life more than once, she said.
“She was the most precious woman in this world,” Young said. “She just loved people. She would help in any situation she could. She was just so kind. But, you know, people like that get hurt a lot, don’t they?”
Contact the writers:
tbesecker@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9137;
@tmbeseckerTT on Twitter;
dsingleton@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9132
