Jacksonville, FL: Slaying of woman, arrest of husband leave neighbors at a loss

Posted: July 3, 2011 - 8:35pm

By Kevin Turner , Tracy Jones
The shooting death of a woman, who neighbors say was Jill Lukens, shocked the people in her tightly knit neighborhood on a cul-du-sac in the Sheffield Oak subdivision near New Berlin and Yellow Bluff roads on the Northside.
They say they know that she died of a gunshot early Saturday morning. Police called to the case at 4:30 that morning called it a domestic shooting.
Neighbors know that on the afternoon of that day, Lukens' husband, Kenneth James Lukens, 45, was arrested and charged with murder. He is being held in the Duval County jail without bail.
They know that about 3 p.m. Sunday police tape came down from around the home identified in property records as belonging to the Lukens.
But they have no other answers.
Some stood in the cul-du-sac's center on Sunday afternoon, talking and commiserating. A few houses down, some hosted a Fourth of July weekend pool party, opting not to talk to the media about what had happened so nearby.
"Everyone in this cul-du-sac has been here since day one when it was built six years ago," neighbor Beth Letendre said. "We, as a community, are heartbroken. We feel this tragic incident in every household. We are tarnished by it, and we will never be the same because of it."
Letendre stood Sunday afternoon with three other women, one of whom said she was Jill Lukens' best friend, at a small shrine of flowers and a photo in the shade of a tree in the Lukens' yard. The other three declined to comment, but Letendre, fighting back tears, described her neighbor from a house across her street as "a beautiful person."
"Jill never had an unkind thing to say about anyone. She was slightly built, but she had a heart twice the size of a bodybuilder. She was all heart," she said.
The Lukens had no children, she said.
She'll always remember Jill Lukens' conscientious nature she said. Recently, for example, Lukens had left some plants on her doorstep with a note that she thought they would find a good home at her house.
Another neighbor, Annette Smith, said the Lukens were as active in the area as any other neighbors, talking to and visiting other neighbors often.
"This was out of the blue. Out of the complete blue," Letendre said.

Neither of the Lukens have records of arrest in Duval County, according to court files.