Documents detail house of violence

A 2-year-old boy shot to death Sunday night in a Henrico County home and his seven siblings were part of a violent, ongoing domestic dispute in which their father is charged with attempted murder of their mother, court records state.

The father, Kenneth Dwayne "Chrome" Jefferson Sr., 39, also threatened to kill friends of his wife, even stating in September that he would track down one of them in the Richmond City Jail, court documents show.

"He said that if [one of his wife's friends] is in Richmond City Jail he would need to be moved because [Jefferson] would kill him," a court document submitted by the Richmond commonwealth attorney's office states.

The statements allegedly were made when Jefferson was being extradited back to Virginia from Pennsylvania to face multiple charges related to an alleged assault against his wife.

The wife, Aina Lee Jefferson, is identified in court documents as being in a witness-protection program for her safety.

Kenneth Jefferson was in the city jail at the time his 2-year-old son, Kristofer, was fatally shot at Jefferson's mother's home. The child died at VCU Medical Center late Sunday night after being taken there in a private vehicle.

Family advocate Alicia Rasin appeared on local television news programs Monday night with Aina Jefferson, appealing for a place to stay for the woman and her seven surviving children and mourning the loss of Kristofer.

Rasin said yesterday that the children and Aina Jefferson are safe in undisclosed places.

Rasin said she also has no fears about her own safety.

"I have been doing this work for 22 years and I am not afraid," she said. "I deal with crimes and the people all the time."

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Kenneth Jefferson is facing a Feb. 11 jury trial on charges of attempted murder, malicious wounding, use of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon. The matters stem from an alleged assault in July against his wife on Walmsley Boulevard.

According to court filings in that case, Kenneth Jefferson has alleged that one of his eight children was molested and another was spanked by someone who is not a family member.

He listed his home address as being in the 1900 block of Watts Lane, the same home where Kristofer was fatally shot Sunday night. According to Henrico police, adults in the home and another youth said the child shot himself, possibly with a .22-caliber rifle.

The only weapon police recovered from the home was the rifle.

Kenneth Jefferson's mother, Denise M. Jefferson, is the grandmother of Kristofer and his seven siblings. She was arrested Sunday night on charges of felony child neglect and a misdemeanor of leaving a loaded weapon within reach of a child.

She is being held in Henrico without bond.

Police won't say whether they have concluded that Kristofer shot himself. They also have declined to say how the shooting occurred.

Kenneth Jefferson has a history of 11 criminal convictions in Henrico, Chesterfield County and Richmond, according to court documents in his pending case.

Prosecutors have said in discovery documents that Jefferson had vowed not to be caught, writing that he would "not turn himself in until [Aina Jefferson] and two of her friends are dead."

"He states that he will go wherever to find her and that he will never go back to jail."

Brimming with anger at the mother of his eight children, Jefferson wrote from Pennsylvania: "I'm not Kenneth Jefferson Sr. anymore. Call me Deranged lunatic out for Blood."

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At least three adults were in the Jefferson home Sunday. Denise Jefferson said during a court appearance Monday that she has no telephone, does not know the value of the home and is unemployed.

The one-story, 1,200-square-foot home on Watts Lane, off Mechanicsville Turnpike just east of The Showplace in eastern Henrico, has attracted police attention for decades.

Kenneth Jefferson's brother, Rudolph Jefferson Jr., is serving a 10-year federal sentence in Glenville, W.Va., for drug possession and a firearms conviction. He was sentenced in July 2006.

The Jefferson brothers also were allegedly involved in a shootout that cut short an October 1998 football game between Henrico High School and Highland Springs High School.

Rudolph, then 19, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and apparently still carries a bullet that lodged in his spine.

Kenneth Jefferson, allegedly firing in return at a group that had fired on him and his brother, unloaded "30-some rounds" from a semiautomatic weapon, then-Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Toby Vick said later in court.

Charges against Kenneth Jefferson were not prosecuted, according to court records.

Services for Kristofer are tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at Chiles Funeral Home.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .