By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON – After serving seven days in jail for violating a no-contact probationary order, Jennifer Petkov is free to return to her former Detroit Street residence.
Petkov, known as the “Devil of Detroit Street” after gaining international, online fame for taunting a dying girl and her dead mother, was ordered to move from Detroit Street after pleading guilty on Feb. 1 to assault and battery charges for attempting to run down a neighbor with a vehicle. She was sentenced to 18 months probation.
The assault charge was the latest strike against Petkov, who gained international infamy after posting on a social network site images of then-7-year-old Kathleen Edward, a Detroit Street neighbor dying of Huntington’s Disease. Petkov posted a photo of the girl superimposed with skull-and-crossbones, along with images of Kathleen’s mother, Laura Edward, who died in 2009 at age 24, in the arms of the Grim Reaper.
When Laura Edward died, Petkov and her husband, Scott, drove a coffin-decorated truck through the neighborhood, and also attempted vehicular assault on another neighbor, according to reports.
The February probation sentence included, along with psychological and substance abuse evaluations, anger management counseling and a stipulation that Petkov remain at least five blocks away from her Detroit Street residence.
After neighbors reported that Petkov violated the no-contact requirement, investigators verified the sightings.
“In July of 2011, Ms. Petkov once again had contact with the victim’s neighborhood,” Wayne County Prosecutor Spokeswoman Maria Miller said.
A motion to violate her probation was heard on July 27 by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Carole Youngblood. Petkov’s probation was closed out after serving seven days in jail, which ended Aug. 26.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected].)