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Trench coat led to arrests in bold attacks
By CARY DAVIS, Times Staff Writer
James Jacobs was known for his black trench coat. He wore it religiously to Hudson High School. He wore it, authorities say, in the predawn darkness when he inhaled Freon from neighbors' air conditioning units. And he wore it, prosecutors say, when he broke into a house in Beacon Woods East and held a knife to a 14-year-old girl's throat as she slept in her bed. That was just one of four brazen attacks, each targeting young, sleeping girls, that terrified and froze a neighborhood over a three-day period in January 2002. The victims were between 10 and 14. In the 10-year-old's case, she was beaten so badly that her skull was fractured. At the time, there seemed to be no explanation for the attacks, and no logical connection to establish how the victims were selected. As the intruders eluded capture, frantic parents in well-manicured neighborhoods wondered whether their daughters were next on the intruders' hit list. In the end, it was a black trench coat that played a key role in stopping the attacks. One of the victims, a freshman at Hudson High, came forward and told detectives that she caught a glimpse of her attacker as he fled her house. He was cloaked in a black trench coat. She thought she recognized his voice when he told her, "Shut up or I'll kill you." The voice, she said, belonged to a kid named James. Soon, Pasco sheriff's detectives had two 16-year-olds in custody: Jacobs and his best friend, Jonathan "Woody" Ainsworth, also a student at Hudson High. Prosecutors charged each as adults with burglary/battery, a first-degree felony that carries a possible sentence of life in prison. The beatings stopped, but the mystery lingered: Why? Money was not the motive: Nothing was stolen from any of the victims' homes. And the victims were not sexually assaulted. Why would anyone risk so much for the purpose of beating up defenseless young girls? With the cases now nearing trial, new details have begun to emerge from the growing stack of court documents. The details include a possible motive, as well as descriptions of the two suspects as troubled teens, outcasts with arrest records and a history of behavioral problems at school. A psychologist described Jacobs as severely depressed, suicidal and "highly dysfunctional," according to court records. The teen inhaled Freon and smoked marijuana on a daily basis before the attacks, the psychologist's report states. He has a history of wild mood swings, characterized by a quick temper and a violent streak, according to the report. Authorities believe Jacobs was the leader in the beatings. He faces charges in connection with three of the attacks. Ainsworth has been charged in two attacks. Court records say little about Ainsworth's background. Lawyers for Jacobs and Ainsworth and a state prosecutor declined to comment for this report. One witness, a 16-year-old girl who was not among the victims, provided what has become the leading theory of the case for prosecutors. The girl said Ainsworth and Jacobs both mentioned the victims before the attacks. "They were telling me before any of this happened that James asked these girls out . . . and they turned him down," the witness said in a deposition. "And then Woody asked this one girl out, and I think she was like a seventh-grader, and she turned him down." Yet none of the four victims could say why they believed they were attacked, according to court records. None reported having any problems with either Jacobs or Ainsworth. A mother of one of the victims called Jacobs "a friend." The Times is withholding the names of the victims and the witness because of their ages. Each of the victims lived within a mile of Jacobs' home on Willoughby Drive in Beacon Woods East. Ainsworth lived with Jacobs at the time of the attacks. It is not clear from court records why Jacobs' mother and stepfather took Ainsworth into their home. The intruders managed to get inside the victims' houses through unlocked windows and back doors, according to reports. In each case, the girls awoke to a hand over their mouths. In three cases, the girls were punched repeatedly in the head. In the fourth case, Jacobs held a drywall knife to a girls' throat, authorities say. The girl suffered a slight cut, but did not initially tell her mother about what happened because "James had some problems and stuff that I knew of," she said in a deposition. "And I thought, you know, it was just like a prank or something. I didn't think anything of it until I heard later that he, like, had gone into some other people's houses, too." The youngest girl suffered the worst beating. The 10-year-old's mother awoke to find her daughter vomiting and bleeding from the head. The girl was hospitalized with a broken skull and now suffers regular headaches. She told authorities that she does not remember anything of the beating. Eerily, the beatings did not wake any parents or siblings in the homes. Jacobs and Ainsworth remain in custody while they await trial. Authorities say the teens have denied involvement in the attacks. The psychologist who examined Jacobs said the teen "implied that he did not remember what had happened." -- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com
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