EAST FLATBUSH — Investigators were questioning the relatives of a 78-year-old grandmother who was found dead with head injuries from a possible hammer attack in her Troy Avenue home Monday, sources said.
Edna Pierre-Jacques was found by her daughter and granddaughter in her home, near Avenue D, about 9:50 p.,m., an NYPD spokeswoman said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
A hammer with its head broken off was found near Pierre-Jacques' body, sources said.
Sources said her death appeared suspicious.
Investigators were questioning Pierre-Jacques's husband, who was home at the time, as well as her daughter and granddaughter, police said.
The city's Medical Examiner's Office will determine how she died and if there was any criminality involved.
There were no immediate arrests or suspect identified, police said.
Pierre-Jacques, a devout mom to four children who also loved to cook Caribbean food, had a strained relationship with her husband, friends said.
"She'd cook black rice, rise and beans, plantains. She'd cook every day, but he wouldn't eat from her. He'd just go to the Chinese restaurant instead," said Patricia Hagely, 60, who said he spoke to the victim three times Monday.
Pierre-Jacques' husband would frequently belittle her, Hagely added.
"She would put on her music and dance and he'd call her a crazy woman, a disgraced human. They weren't talking. She never talked about him. They were just living in the same house," Hagely said.
Hagely called her friend Monday night to talk about the lottery, but didn't think anything was amiss.
"She was normal. I just can't believe it," Hagely said.
Friends and neighbors remembered Pierre-Jacques as a friendly church-going mother of four.
"She was a very nice woman in every way. She was always happy," said friend Carol Stvil.
Pierre-Jacques regularly worshipped at nearby St. Therese of Lisieux Roman Catholic Church and could frequently be seen with her kids around the neighborhood, friends said.
"I'd see her on the steps, see her in the store. She was a great mother. I used to see her with her kids a lot. She'd make dinner," said neighbor Ayoka Noel, 45, who was also close with the victim's children.
"I'm just shocked someone I knew was found dead. It's just crazy," Noel added.
