Jamer Jay Greenfield | Homicide Watch Trentonhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/victims/jahmer-jay-greenfield/Latest news about Jamer Jay Greenfielden-usFri, 29 Sep 2017 16:18:12 -0400Trenton and Mercer County cops close in on Jamer Greenfield’s killerhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2017/09/29/trenton-and-mercer-county-cops-close-in-on-jamer-greenfields-killer/<p class="p1"> <p class="p3"><span class="s3">TRENTON &gt;&gt; Talaya Greenfield might finally know who killed her son.</span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3910" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1-225x300.jpg" alt="Talaya Greenfield grasps a portrait of her son, taken when he was young boy. (Isaac Avilucea - The Trentonian)" width="225" height="300" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1-225x300.jpg 225w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1-500x666.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1-600x800.jpg 600w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1.jpg 661w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Talaya Greenfield grasps a portrait of her son, taken when he was young boy. (Isaac Avilucea - The Trentonian)</p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Sworn court papers filed this month in the ongoing lawsuit the Trenton woman brought against the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and city police last year suggest authorities are close to making arrests.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">James Scott, an assistant prosecutor who heads the homicide unit, said in a certification there are “potentially identifiable suspects” in the murder of Jamer Greenfield, who was gunned down in Trenton in July 2014.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">The unsolved case has dragged on for more than three years but is drawing to a close as the county homicide task force appears close to nabbing its targets.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">“It is necessary for the MHTF to conduct additional interviews before the case will be in a position for review and potential issuance of arrest warrants and subsequent presentation to a grand jury for indictment(s),” Scott wrote. </span><span id="more-6029"></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">The sworn court papers were filed in support of a motion to quash a subpoena, known as a duces tectum, issued by Patrick Whalen, the attorney representing Ms. Greenfield. </span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">He asked for police reports, an autopsy and other documents related to the investigation.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Ms. Greenfield sued the prosecutor’s office last year, frustrated after she was unable to get her son’s autopsy report.</span></p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3911" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1-300x199.jpg" alt="Talaya Greenfield sits before a Trentonian cafeteria table with documents and papers related to her slain son on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)" width="300" height="199" srcset="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1-300x199.jpg 300w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1-500x332.jpg 500w, http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1.jpg 788w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Talaya Greenfield sits before a Trentonian cafeteria table with documents and papers related to her slain son on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)</p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Her attorney in a federal lawsuit accused local cops and prosecutors of a race-based conspiracy to “conceal” the identity of Jamer’s killer.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">The lawsuit suggested police may have caused or contributed to the Trenton man’s death.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Scott’s sworn affidavit contradicts those allegations. In it, he said the prosecutor’s office has dedicated “time and manpower to ensure the responsible parties are brought to justice.”</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Scott, who said he could not comment beyond what was in the papers, suggested that forcing the prosecutor’s office to turn over documents from the investigation would adversely impact the case.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">“Due to the status of the Greenfield homicide, it is not appropriate or timely to release the material that plaintiff seeks in the subject subpoena,” the assistant prosecutor said. “Divulging the contents of the MHTF’s investigation file would be unreasonable and counterproductive to the continued pursuit of charges concerning the death of Mr. Greenfield.”</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">The prosecutor’s office was still required to respond to the subpoena despite being dismissed as a defendant in Ms. Greenfield’s lawsuit. </span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">The county has also been dismissed as a defendant, according to court papers, leaving only claims against the Trenton Police department </span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">A federal judge hasn’t issued a decision on the subpoena request.</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s3">Whalen did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment.</span></p> Isaac AviluceaFri, 29 Sep 2017 16:18:12 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2017/09/29/trenton-and-mercer-county-cops-close-in-on-jamer-greenfields-killer/Jamer Jay GreenfieldMother of murdered Trenton man sues Mercer County Prosecutor’s Officehttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/01/17/mother-of-murdered-trenton-man-sues-mercer-county-prosecutors-office/<a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1.jpg"><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499482-1-500x332.jpg" alt="Talaya Greenfield sits before a Trentonian cafeteria table with documents and papers related to her slain son on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)" width="500" height="332" class="size-large wp-image-3911" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Talaya Greenfield sits before a Trentonian cafeteria table with documents and papers related to her slain son on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)</p> <p>Talaya Greenfield scooped a handful of documents and pictures from her purse and spread them out across a small table.</p> <p>This was all that is left of her son, 23-year-old Jamer, who was fatally shot in Trenton on July 14, 2014. His killer remains on the prowl.</p> <p>Talaya is left with questions she says the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has not satisfactorily answered. She wrote to Acting Attorney General John Hoffman last year.</p> <p>He couldn’t help, so now she’s suing the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.</p> <p>It’s an unfair fight, a single mother who was forced to drop out of high school after she became pregnant with her first son, pitted against a powerhouse of attorneys with law degrees from a plethora of prestigious schools, decades of experience and resources galore.</p> <p>This is David vs. Goliath, captioned Greenfield v. Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, et al. <span id="more-3908"></span></p> <p>“I’m just gonna manage, do this on my own,” Talaya said. “I hope I can win by myself. But I do know I need backup. I’m hoping that someone does come to my aid and offers their help.”</p> <p><strong>‘Frivolous’ fight</strong></p> <p>To think, this legal wrangling started because the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has refused to provide Jamer’s mother with his autopsy report, which she believes will answer many of her lingering questions about her son’s death.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1.jpg"><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499803-1-225x300.jpg" alt="Talaya Greenfield grasps a portrait of her son, taken when he was young boy. (Isaac Avilucea - The Trentonian)" width="225" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-3910" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Talaya Greenfield grasps a portrait of her son, taken when he was young boy. (Isaac Avilucea - The Trentonian)</p> <p>While she would settle for the autopsy report, Talaya also wants prosecutors to release her son’s $17,000 blue diamond-encrusted Breitling watch and his cross necklace. She wants to sell the watch so she can pay for an attorney to find out what really happened to her son.</p> <p>The office of Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri has met numerous times with Talaya, who said First Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie read her portions of the autopsy report but refused to allow her to see it for herself.</p> <p>County prosecutor spokeswoman Casey Deblasio said her office will not give Talaya a copy of the autopsy report because of the ongoing murder investigation. They believe it could jeopardize catching his killer but have not said how.</p> <p>Attorneys from the county have asked Talaya to drop her lawsuit, calling the complaint “frivolous litigation.”</p> <p>In a threatening letter sent by Deputy Counsel Paul Adezio on Jan. 8, he said the county would ask a judge to come down hard on Talaya if she does not withdraw the complaint.</p> <p>“You have previously been advised by the MCPO and law enforcement personnel that the personal property cannot be released, as it constitutes evidence,” the letter says. “Please be advised that an application will be made within a reasonable time if the offending complaint is not withdrawn as to the MCPO within twenty-eight (28) days of service of this demand. The application will seek attorneys’ fees and costs and such other sanctions.”</p> <p>Talaya has little money. She asked for the filing fee for the lawsuit to be waived. She has still been unable to scrape together the $1,200 for a headstone for Jamer, who is buried at Colonial Memorial Park.</p> <p>“Every time I walk past there, it makes tears come out of my eyes,” she said. “I really miss my son calling me. I miss his smile.”</p> <p><strong>Lingering questions</strong></p> <p>Jamer dealt drugs and was facing criminal charges at the time of his death. But it is unclear if that is connected in any way to his demise.</p> <p>Word on the street is he may have been targeted for his jewelry while he was gambling. Talaya said she was told her son ran from his assailant and collapsed on the ground in front of two cops.</p> <p>The Mercer County Homicide Task Force protocol sheet is dryly impersonal and reveals little else:</p> <blockquote><p>At approximately 0501 hours on Saturday July 19, 2014, Trenton Police Officers Michael Runyon and Joseph Schiaretti were in the area of the 100 block of Rosemont Avenue when they heard gunshots and saw a large group running in the area of 209 Rosemont Avenue. The Officers responded and observed a gunshot victim lying on the ground on Hoffman Avenue (S/O) 200 Rosemont Avenue suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Trenton Emergency Medical Services responded and the victim, identified as Jamer Jay Greenfield, B/M 23 years of age, born July 29, 1990, was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased by Dr. Kelly at 0530 hours. The victim’s mother was notified of her son’s untimely passing.</p></blockquote> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499465-1.jpg"><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2016/01/19499465-1-300x240.jpg" alt="Documents related to the death of Jamer Greenfield are seen splayed out on a Trentonian cafeteria table on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)" width="300" height="240" class="size-medium wp-image-3912" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Documents related to the death of Jamer Greenfield are seen splayed out on a Trentonian cafeteria table on Nov. 6, 2015 during an interview. (Scott Ketterer - The Trentonian)</p> <p>A report from Dr. Michael Kelly, the emergency surgeon who worked on Jamer, is filled with medical jargon and hard to decipher.</p> <p>It says Jamer “showed no signs of life” after suffering a “gunshot wound directly in the middle of the sternum, one in the right lower quadrant of his abdomen, one on his right flank and one in his left back at the level of the T9 in the midclavicular line.”</p> <p>The murder has confounded cops and prosecutors, which has led Talaya to the brink of conspiracy theory.</p> <p>She remembers one of the officers who found her son laying in a pool of his own blood broke down crying at the hospital. Then she thought it was just a cop hardened by the savage streets showing his sentimental side.</p> <p>Now she views his tears more skeptically, wondering if he had a “guilty conscience” and if she is missing something.</p> <p>“All cops don’t do that,” Talaya said.</p> <p>Not long after Jamer’s death, former Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini authorized his office to release $300 of $661 in drug proceeds seized from Jamer on Jan. 15, 2014.</p> <p>What many would interpret as a sympathetic gesture from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office now comes across to Talaya as prosecutors buying her off because they are hiding something.</p> <p>“I wanna know who shot him,” Talaya said. “I’m gonna go on as long as it takes me. I’m not going to stop fighting for Jamer.”</p> Isaac AviluceaSun, 17 Jan 2016 14:21:34 -0500http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2016/01/17/mother-of-murdered-trenton-man-sues-mercer-county-prosecutors-office/Jamer Jay GreenfieldMother of Trenton murder victim talks about struggles of parenting a troubled youthhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2014/12/21/mother-of-trenton-murder-victim-talks-about-struggles-of-parenting-a-troubled-youth/ <dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon landscape'> <a href='http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/?attachment_id=2509'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield1-memorial-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Picture of Jamer Greenfield taken from a memorial booklet from his funeral. (Contributed photo)" data-attachment-id="2509" data-orig-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield1-memorial.jpg" data-orig-size="944,800" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Image of Jamer Greenfield from a memorial booklet from his funeral.\rSubmitted photo.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="TRT-Z-Greenfield1-memorial" data-image-description="&lt;p&gt;Image of Jamer Greenfield from a memorial booklet from his funeral.&lt;br /&gt; Submitted photo.&lt;/p&gt; " data-medium-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield1-memorial-300x254.jpg" data-large-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield1-memorial-500x423.jpg" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption'> Picture of Jamer Greenfield taken from a memorial booklet from his funeral. (Contributed photo) </dd></dl><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon landscape'> <a href='http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/?attachment_id=2511'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/GreenfieldMom-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Talaya Greenfield" data-attachment-id="2511" data-orig-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/GreenfieldMom.jpg" data-orig-size="2552,2520" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DMC-TZ5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1414144646&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;12.2&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Talaya Greenfield" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/GreenfieldMom-300x296.jpg" data-large-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/GreenfieldMom-500x493.jpg" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption'> Talaya Greenfield </dd></dl><dl class='gallery-item'> <dt class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/?attachment_id=2507'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield3-memorial-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Jamer Greenfield (Contributed photo)" data-attachment-id="2507" data-orig-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield3-memorial.jpg" data-orig-size="697,968" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Image of Jamer Greenfield from a memorial booklet from his funeral.\rSubmitted photo.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="TRT-Z-Greenfield3-memorial" data-image-description="&lt;p&gt;Image of Jamer Greenfield from a memorial booklet from his funeral.&lt;br /&gt; Submitted photo.&lt;/p&gt; " data-medium-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield3-memorial-216x300.jpg" data-large-file="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield3-memorial-500x694.jpg" /></a> </dt> <dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption'> Jamer Greenfield (Contributed photo) </dd></dl><br style="clear: both" /> <p>When <a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/victims/jahmer-jay-greenfield/">Jamer Greenfield</a> was eight or nine years old, the man he thought was his father told him that he no longer wanted to be a part of his life.</p> <p>“I came home from work one day and Jamer was crying,” his mother Talaya Greenfield said. “He said, ‘My dad said he wasn’t my dad anymore.’ I thought to myself, ‘Oh God. Why didn’t he let me tell him?’”</p> <p>The father mixup was an honest mistake, Talaya said, but the news “destroyed” her son. It set Jamer on a path of mischief, with little-to-no direction for life goals. At the age of 10, Greenfield stole someone’s bike, his mother said, and by the time he became a teenager, he turned to street hustling. <span id="more-2512"></span></p> <p>“Things started getting terrible at the age of 14 or 15,” Talaya said. “He started driving cars and I didn’t even know. He sold drugs as a teenager. But he never played with guns.”</p> <p>Jamer Greenfield, 23, was shot and killed on July 19. Word on the street is that Jamer was gambling shortly before he was gunned down. Police, though, have not disclosed a motive for the killing.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield-Family-memorial.jpg"><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/12/TRT-Z-Greenfield-Family-memorial-150x150.jpg" alt="Image of Jamer Greenfield, his mother and two brothers taken from a memorial booklet from Jamer&#039;s funeral. (Contributed photo)" width="150" height="150" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2510" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image of Jamer Greenfield, his mother and two brothers taken from a memorial booklet from Jamer's funeral. (Contributed photo)</p> <p>Talaya Greenfield agreed to share her story so that others will understand the struggles of single moms. She raised three boys with the help of family and friends. Her other two sons have fathers who were in their lives, she said. But after Jamer — the youngest — learned that he was mistaken about his biological father’s identity, he was left without a full-time father figure in his life. While the children were young, Talaya stayed home and raised them, but as they became older, she found a full-time job. But when she started working, Talaya said, she found it difficult to keep Jamer out of trouble.</p> <p>“I was working and really didn’t know what was going on,” Talaya said. “I would run out from my job because they were always calling me, telling me that Jamer was doing this and doing that. I told him to behave himself. I didn’t raise him to be the way he was.”</p> <p>According to government statistics, between 1960 and 2004, the <a href="https://library.fatherhood.gov/cwig/ws/library/docs/FATHERHD/Blob/64915.pdf?w=NATIVE%28%27TI+ph+is+%27%27Fathers+and+the+Living+Arrangements+of+Children+Under+18%27%27+AND+AUTHORS+ph+like+%27%27National+Responsible+Fatherhood+Clearinghouse%27%27+AND+YEAR+%3D+2008%27%29&#038;upp=0&#038;rpp=25&#038;order=native%28%27year%2FDescend%27%29&#038;r=1&#038;m=1">percentage of children under the age of 18 living in father-absent homes increased</a> from 11.2 percent to 27.6 percent. Statistics also show that more black children live in father-absent homes than do Hispanic or white children. Today, more than 24 million American children live in homes in which their biological fathers do not reside, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/fatherhood_report_6.13.12_final.pdf">according to a 2012 government report</a>.</p> <p>Researchers have found that single-parent homes correlate with violent crime, and that adolescent boys in single-parent families have a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44293/">higher risk of delinquencies</a>, according to the National Institutes of Health.</p> <p>Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) <a href="http://www.shannonbattle.com/">Shannon Battle</a> has worked with single moms for over 14 years. She does not know the Greenfield family, but Battle agreed to share professional knowledge gained throughout her time helping at-risk kids. Battle said that kids who are raised by single, working mothers have a greater risk of engaging in illegal activity, even when other family and friends help raise the child.</p> <p>“Kids thrive on the attachment to their parents,” Battle, who <a href="http://www.familiesofusa.com/home.html">owns a foster-care agency</a>, said. “And young boys face a lot of self-esteem issues.”</p> <p>Young men are constantly looking for development and guidance, Battle said, and often parents are providers of that knowledge. But when personal development is not learned in the home, Battle said, the child will seek that knowledge from outside the household.</p> <p>“We look at them as being in the street getting into trouble, but they’re out there trying to learn,” Battle said. “They’re trying to see what they can do to manage independently and there’s someone out in the streets willing to show them.”</p> <p>Jamer Greenfield dropped out of high-school, his mother said, but he later earned his GED. When he was in middle school, Jamer’s mother tried to interest him in sports such as basketball and baseball, but he didn’t enjoy any of those activities. Her son wanted to have a lot of money, Talaya said, but he never actually articulated how he would accomplish that goal.</p> <a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/07/1964473_1537470066478245_700058262_n.jpg"><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/07/1964473_1537470066478245_700058262_n-150x150.jpg" alt="Jamer Greenfield" width="150" height="150" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1886" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Jamer Greenfield</p> <p>“He wanted to be a star, or a millionaire, when he grew up,” Talaya said. “He wanted to own businesses and he wanted to be ‘on top.’ If you ask me how he planned to do that, I couldn’t tell you. I listened to him say that a lot, and I always said, ‘You have to finish school to do that.’”</p> <p>Talaya now partly blames herself for her son’s inability to achieve his dreams. She believes she wasn’t strict enough as a parent, even though she tried the best she could to raise Jamer to be responsible.</p> <p>“I tried so hard to change him and to make him go the right way and do the right thing,” Talaya said. “But I wasn’t strict on my kids. I always spoiled them. I never let them make their own beds, clean up, or take garbage out; that wasn’t their job. They never had to do anything. Maybe that’s what the problem was.”</p> <p>Battle said single parents will often try and be more of a friend as opposed to a parent to their children in order to compensate for whatever may be lacking in the home. But that type of relationship can sometimes have adverse effects, Battle said.</p> <p>“Children need accountability,” Battle said. “If you never allow them the opportunity to maintain basic activities of daily living, then they’re going to have a difficult transition into independence and adulthood. A lot of times mothers do that to try and compensate for not having a man in the house, or for their own personal insecurities, because they feel responsible for whatever the child is missing in their life.”</p> <p>Battle suggests that single parents place their children in mentoring programs, or find a support group of other single parents who can help guide kids on a productive life path. In addition with help in taking kids to school and other appointments, Battle said, support groups provide additional adult influences who can serve as role models for adolescents.</p> <p>“Single moms have to be more resourceful and make sure their child’s needs are being met even while they’re at work,” Battle said.</p> <p>Ever since Jamer’s death, his mother has struggled to find happiness. She cries whenever she thinks about him, and she’s anxious for answers as to why he was killed. Talaya said she reads about the arrests of murder suspects in the newspaper every day, but she doesn’t understand why police have not apprehended her son’s killer. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said detectives are continually investigating all of Trenton’s unsolved murders, and that there have been no new developments in the investigation of Greenfield’s death.</p> <p>“It hurts not to have my baby son here anymore,” Talaya said. “He might have been trouble, but he made me happy. I miss him a whole lot. He didn’t deserve to be killed like that.”</p> Penny RaySun, 21 Dec 2014 18:07:18 -0500http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2014/12/21/mother-of-trenton-murder-victim-talks-about-struggles-of-parenting-a-troubled-youth/Jamer Jay GreenfieldMan shot multiple times in West Ward dies, authorities sayhttp://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2014/07/19/man-shot-multiple-times-in-west-ward-dies-authorities-say/<p><iframe src="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/api/v1/homicides/106.html" width="100%" height="350" frameborder=0></iframe></p> <p>A 23-year-old city man is dead after an early morning shooting in the area of Hoffman and Rosemont Avenues in the city's West Ward Saturday morning. </p> <p>At approximately 5 a.m. Trenton Police were in the area of Hoffman Avenue and the 100 block of Rosemont Avenue when they heard gunshots, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said.<a href="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/07/1964473_1537470066478245_700058262_n.jpg" ><img src="http://wordpress.homicidewatch.org/trenton/files/2014/07/1964473_1537470066478245_700058262_n-225x300.jpg" alt="1964473_1537470066478245_700058262_n" width="225" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1886" /></a></p> <p>According to Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's office, police arrived to see a large group of people running in the 200 block of Rosemont Avenue. Upon their arrival, police found a man, identified as <a href="http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/victims/jahmer-jay-greenfield/" >Jamer Jay Greenfield</a>, lying on the ground suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the chest. He was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where he died a sort time later, DeBlasio said. It's not clear exactly when Greenfield was pronounced dead. <span id="more-1878"></span></p> <p>At this time a motive has not been established and no suspect description was immediately available. </p> <p>The death is under investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force.<br /> Investigators are asking that anyone who may have witnessed the shooting please call the county's homicide task force at (609) 989-6406. Or use the Trenton police confidential tip line at (609) 989-3663. Tipsters may also call the Trenton Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477. Those wishing to text a tip can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.</p> Scott KettererSat, 19 Jul 2014 13:00:36 -0400http://trenton.homicidewatch.org/2014/07/19/man-shot-multiple-times-in-west-ward-dies-authorities-say/Jamer Jay Greenfield