Jenkins' Girlfriend Kills Self, His Daughter

PERRY, Okla. - One year after a car accident killed his wife, the girlfriend of Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins killed herself and Jenkins' 3-year-old daughter with carbon monoxide.

According to Noble County Sheriff Jerry Cook, Cynthia Takieddine told Jenkins she was leaving their ranch near Guthrie to go Christmas shopping, then drove herself and Samantha Jenkins about 35 miles to a little-traveled road near Perry.

Takieddine, 44, ran a vacuum-cleaner hose from the exhaust pipe to the car's interior and locked the doors, Cook said.

"She set the little girl in there and both of them expired," Cook said.

Medical examiners say the two had been dead about three hours when an oil-field worker found them Tuesday afternoon.

Takieddine left a note, but it did not explain why she wanted to end her life, the sheriff said. He refused to reveal the note's contents.

"It's very bad when someone takes their own life, but when they take someone else's life, especially someone innocent, it's terrible," Cook said.

Jenkins' second wife died three days after his 1991 induction into the Hall of Fame from injuries she suffered in a car accident near their ranch.

Cook talked to Jenkins Tuesday night. "He was taking it pretty rough," the sheriff said.

Jenkins, 48, signed with Cincinnati three weeks ago as a pitching coach for the Reds' Class AA farm team in Chattanooga, Tenn.

During his career, Jenkins played for Philadelphia, Chicago, Texas and Boston. He won 284 games in 19 seasons.

He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1991.

Jenkins spoke to his children, the youngest of whom was Samantha, in his acceptance speech when he asked them to remember "the fabric of life is interwoven with wins and losses, successes, joys and tragedies."