The Jackson family has certainly had its share of family drama. There’s Janet’s divorce (s) that time that Michael Jackson was married to Priscilla Presley and the fact that Jermaine and Randy have a baby mama in common.
But one of the Jackson family tragedies that has been forgotten is the murder of Tito’s ex-wife, Delores “Dee Dee” Jackson mother of their three sons, Tarryl, TJ and Taj. That story is the subject of a 20/20 episode that airs tonight, Friday, September 15 at 10 p.m. on ABC.
TJ, Taj and Taryll Jackson remember vividly the moment their mother, Delores “Dee Dee” Jackson, died in August 1994.
The sons of Tito Jackson, 63, told ABC News’ 20/20 Thursday that their mother died before they could reach the hospital.
“I just had a sixth sense in my head, as if I knew already it was terrible and I knew already that my mother wasn’t with us,” TJ said. “It was just a nightmare. It’s like a kid’s worst memory.”
Dee Dee, 39, was found in the pool of her boyfriend Don Bohana in his Ladera Heights, California, home.
He’s spent 19 years in a California prison.
Michael Jackson’s brother told 20/20 his ex-wife’s death was the “coldest day of our lives.”
“[His sons] said, ‘Mom is dead,’” Tito said. “It was just a sad moment, you know. It was just horrifying.”
Tito and Dee Dee were students at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles where they met. They married after they graduated in 1972, but divorced in 1993.
After her untimely death, the Jacksons immediately questioned how she died, saying she was terrified of water.
“My first question was, ‘Drown?’ What was she doing in the water?” Tito said. “You know, ’cause Dee Dee and I, neither of us swam.”
Taj agreed, adding, “That didn’t line up with anything that we believed in knowing our mom and knowing how much she feared the pool.”
Tito revealed he remembered “bruises and the damage” on her body made him suspect there had been a fight, saying, “It points to a murder to me, in the first degree.”
PHOTO: ABC Screenshot
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