The handwriting on the “am sorry” note found in the charred remains of a Staten Island murder-suicide appears to match that of the dead mother — not the teen pyromaniac believed to be responsible for the fire and slaughter of his entire family, sources close to the investigation said.
Investigators compared the badly burned note to writings in Leisa Jones’ journal, which was found at the scene, and believed they found a match, according to two sources.
But a high-level police source said authorities still could not say who wrote the note or killed the family, only that all signs were still pointing to the oldest son, C.J. Romoy, 14.
The note — much of which is impossible to read because of fire damage — was found fused to a butane lighter in the same room as the bodies of Jones and three of her four children.
“The identity of the author of the note remains unknown,” another police source said.
The mystery surrounding the note’s author comes as C.J.’s heartbroken father told The Post yesterday there was no way his son was responsible — and he pointed the finger at his ex.
“If anybody could’ve done it, it would’ve been the mother because of her temper,” Earlston Raymond said at his home in Jamaica.
The devastated dad, who hadn’t seen his son in almost seven years, said a close friend of Jones called him after the tragedy to say the mom earlier told her that “she was going to kill the youths and burn the house down.”
Raymond said he broke it off with Jones because of her anger issues and flashes of violence.
“[Jones] had pulled a knife on a relative,” Raymond said.
It’s not clear why, but C.J. also spoke with his dad about moving back to Jamaica.
“I talked to him the Tuesday before he died, he was a happy kid,” Raymond said.
But Jones’ close friend, Shaquawna Meaders, said she was, “a great mom.”
“She’s not capable of something like this,” said Meaders, 25.
Cops think C.J. slit the throats of his two sisters, Melony, 7, and Brittany, 10, at their Nicholas Avenue home Thursday morning and then set the fatal fire that killed his brother, Jermaine, 2.
The troubled teen’s throat was slit as well, and a straight razor with a missing handle was found under his arm.
Police believe C.J. slashed his own throat after killing his sisters, but his official cause of death, along with his mother’s is still pending.
C.J. had been suspended from school for three months for discipline problems, which included shoving an assistant principal. He’d also been kicked out of public pool for setting a fire a day before his family was killed.
But Meaders said the family seemed OK the evening before the 4 a.m. fire Thursday.
“She was getting ready to put them down to sleep. They had a trip to Coney Island planned [the next day],” she said.
“She said, ‘Good night, girl. I’ll see you in the morning.’
“[C.J.] was there combing his hair. When he finished, he started combing his brother’s hair. They were always together as a family if they weren’t at school.”
Additional reporting by Philip Messing and Jamie Schram in New York and Paul Henry in Kingston, Jamaica