Newsday
SUFFOLK, NY — A Suffolk arson investigator described rapper 50 Cent as "very cooperative" in an interview about the fire that destroyed the Dix Hills home where his ex-girlfriend and their son lived.
50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was questioned for more than an hour Aug. 20 in the Manhattan office of one of his attorneys, said Det. Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald of the Suffolk arson squad. "Every fire we investigate, whether the subject was there or not, we interview the homeowner," he said.
On May 30, a fast-moving fire ripped through the $1.4-million home Jackson owned, where his ex, Shaniqua Tompkins, lived with the couple's 11-year-old son, Marquise. The pair, along with four others, escaped through a second-story window. They suffered from smoke inhalation.
A Dix Hills fire chief later called the fire suspicious. The cause of the blaze has not been determined, and Suffolk arson investigators continue to conduct interviews. Jackson, 32, was out of state at a movie shoot at the time of the blaze.
Fitzgerald called the interview "fruitful" but declined to discuss specifics. The meeting was attended by three Suffolk detectives, Jackson, and two of Jackson's attorneys, he said.
The 5,200-square-foot house on Sandra Drive was at the center of a legal feud between Jackson and Tompkins, who were a couple before he became famous. A judge in April ordered her to leave the house, but another judge in May stayed that order pending another hearing.
Tompkins, 32, blamed Jackson for the fire and said he had threatened her life days earlier. Jackson has denied involvement and countered in June with a $20-million defamation suit against Tompkins in Connecticut.
Tompkins and Curtis are to appear in family court in Central Islip Sept. 8 to address an order of protection against Curtis following an altercation in Tompkins' attorney's office in May.
One of Jackson's attorneys referred questions yesterday to a Jackson spokesman, who declined to comment.
Copyright 2008 Newsday, Inc.
