Princess Snowflake falls on Clifton

BY TONY GICAS
STAFF WRITER | CLIFTON JOURNAL

CLIFTON Upon opening her groggy eyes, a

27-year-old woman squinted as the clock on
the dusty VCR flashed 1:53 a.m. on
Thanksgiving Eve 1997. A few moments later
her body became a pin cushion for her knife-
wielding junkie boyfriend.

The scene is just one harrowing image among

many which haunt 41-year-old Dawn
Summerford.

Drug addiction, a bloody Thanksgiving Eve,

homeless nights spent in dangerous dark allies
and an estranged son recently diagnosed as HIV positive.

The longtime Clifton resident's life is one usually reserved for characters in screenplays, cop
dramas and graphic novels. But, sometimes, truth is more surreal than fiction.

Born October 1969 to an alcoholic single mother named Darlene Brown, Summerford was
anointed "Princess Snowflake" by local news outlets after her mother abandoned the infant on a
friend's back porch one cold, snowy, night in Paterson.

Although never officially adopted, Summerford was raised by grandparents whom she called
"lovely" before revealing they too were alcoholics.

"I didn't really have much of a childhood," Summerford said in a recent phone interview.

By 12 years old, Summerford was a hard-to-handle youth who had already begun partying,
drinking, smoking pot, consorting with boys and getting into trouble. Before reaching her teens
Summerford had a drug charge on her record and was sent to juvenile hall after being busted
at school for a "nickel bag" of marijuana.

Not long after turning 18 she gave birth to her first and only child, Daniel.

"I was too young and, at that time, I lived my life with my heart instead of my head,"
Summerford said.

Daniel's father, who Summerford called a "big cokefiend," disappeared weeks after her son was
born. It would become the first of many volatile personal relationships.

After tracking her down, Summerford said she and her son stayed a short time with the mother
who'd abandoned her before. After a short while Brown kicked her and her infant son out of the
house, according to Summerford.
"There were times where I literally stole so we could eat," Summerford said. "I never had any
brothers or sisters so it was and always has been just me and my son."

Alone, destitute and in the midst of a burgeoning cocaine addiction, Summerford said she
began living on the streets.

"At night I would just walk around and I still vividly remember I had plastic over Danny's
stroller," she said, her speech softening through the painful recollection. "Thank God he was too
young to remember that."

During the day the troubled mother would take young Daniel to the park but, by night, the
homeless family stayed wherever Summerford could find a safe place to sleep.

As impossible as it may seem, things soon took a turn for the worse.

"It was the night before Thanksgiving [1997]. I had a turkey defrosting in my sink, people
coming the next day and everything," Summerford remembered.

She and her boyfriend at that time, a Paterson man named Patrick Moore, lived together on
Summer Street. Though the couple were still together, Summerford said she had been the
victim of an abusive relationship which resulted in court dates and Moore being incarcerated on
more than one occasion.

"We were at the tail end of our relationship and I was severing all ties," she said.

On top of the domestic violence, Summerford said Moore was a "sick addict" who "ate Xanax
like they were candy" and began sipping cheap vodka from the moment he rolled out of bed.

But when Summerford closed her eyes that Thanksgiving Eve, she could never have imagined
the nightmare awaiting her when she woke up.

After making out the time on her video-cassette player, 5-foot-1-inch Summerford said she
slowly came to and realized the "big, tall" Moore was on top of her, straddling her.

"All I saw was a flash of silver in his hand and all of a sudden I felt wet," she recalled. "At that
point I had the taste of metal in my mouth and it's a sensation I'll never forget."

Realizing the moisture around her chest was blood pouring out of stab wounds inflicted by her
jilted lover, Summerford said she felt a sudden adrenaline rush which gave her the strength to
push Moore with enough force that he was flung backwards into the entertainment stand. She
said her three loyal pit bulls began ferociously barking at the shape which had assaulted her.

Her son, just 9 years old at the time, awoke in the adjacent bedroom after hearing the
commotion.

"My son saved my life," Summerford said, "and I'll never forget it because Danny asked
'Mommy, are you OK?' I didn't want to frighten him so I wrapped a blanket around me to hide
the blood and told him it was just an asthma attack."
After Daniel handed his mother the phone which lay a few feet from the bed, Summerford
called 911. All the while they were unaware of Moore's whereabouts.

Dislodged from its handle, the steak knife which Moore had used to attack Summerford had
fallen to the floor during the struggle.

Summerford said she subconsciously picked it up, squeezing it tightly in her palm in case her
attacker returned to finish the job.

Clifton police officers Michael MacDermott, Mark Centurione and Gary Woodward responded to
the 3:07 a.m. 911 call and were greeted at the front door by young Daniel.

Summerford later learned Moore, who had drugged her that night by slipping Kolonpin in her
soda, was sitting on the couch downstairs when the police arrived.

According to detective Capt. Thomas Surowiec, Summerford had been stabbed in the
collarbone, back, left breast and arm.

"There are still fragments of the knife inside of me and I was told he came about 3 inches away
from my heart," she said.

When the police asked Summerford what her boyfriend had stabbed her with, she let go of the
blanket and held out her hand, revealing the bloodied knife she continued to clutch.

"I know it affected my son and was a catalyst in his life," she said.

Moore was charged with aggravated assault and died a few years later. Summerford said he
committed suicide.

The grisly incident served as a sobering reminder for Summerford that the lifestyle she had
known was no longer acceptable. Unfortunately, she said her attempt to get clean and secure a
better life for her son was derailed by another poisonous romance.

"After Pat went to jail I surrounded myself with friends, but then I started surrounding myself
with bad people," she said. "I met Glen Wood - he's currently doing 20 years [in prison] - and
when I say I've seen the true face of evil in people, that's not dramatic, because I mean it
literally."

Wood, a well-known ex-con from Paterson, was a martial arts expert who had done "a long
stretch of time," and "made Pat Moore look like the tooth fairy," Summerford said.

She said Wood came under the tutelage of fellow Paterson native Richard "The Iceman"
Kuklinski, a famed mafia hitman who is the subject of an HBO documentary.

"At that time I used to call the jail every day to make sure Pat wasn't out," she said. "Glen was
just evil enough that I felt safe with him should Pat get out. How sick is that?"
At his urging, Summerford packed her son and three dogs into the back of Wood's stolen 14-
foot box truck "which he started with a screwdriver" and moved to Carbondale, Penn.

"Before leaving I had slipped back into cocaine addiction, but I was trying to take this as a fresh
start to put my own self back together and find my bearings," she explained. "I knew Glen was
a hard partier but I didn't find out until later he had a real bad heroin habit. I remember I used
to pray for him to get locked up so I could stay and live in that beautiful house with just my
son."

Summerford said Wood was dealing heroin and said she later learned all of his money was
mob-related.

Soon, the reckless lifestyle caught up with Summerford when she was arrested and convicted of
forgery and sentenced to three years in state prison. She would serve 14 months, but in the
meantime, she lost her 13-year-old son to foster care, where he would remain for five years.

This was not her first brush with the law, however. Police sources say Summerford has been
the victim or defendant in 22 instances ranging from assaults and domestic disputes to drug
possession. Most of the charges, which also include robbery, forgery, burglary and shoplifting,
occurred in Paterson.

While incarcerated Summerford said she made sobriety her mission and said she has been
clean since March 13, 2001. She now lives with her boyfriend of 7 years, John Forte, in a
Botany Village apartment.

Her best friend, Ramon Vazquez, of Passaic, who Summerford affectionately refers to as her
"brother from another mother," expressed pride for the strides she has made.

"I'm very proud of her because she cleaned up her act," Vazquez said.

"It was a long, hard, road," Summerford agreed.

But the steep, winding terrain she'd continuously overcome would not ease just yet.

In September, Summerford learned her son, who currently lives in Pittsburgh, had been
diagnosed HIV positive.

The news "devastated her," Vazquez said, particularly because she has been estranged from
her son and not spoken with him in a year. Summerford's fears were compounded because she
had lost several friends to the virus in the '80s and '90s.

"I know it's not the death sentence now that it was then, but the bottom line is that this is a
terminal thing so he's not going to get better," she said, failing to hold back tears. "The last
time we actually spoke he said 'you know I blame you for this' and told me 'don't worry, the
next we see each other one of us will be in a pine box.' I'm drowning in guilt without a life
preserver."
Vazquez, whose wife died from complications of HIV nearly 20 years ago, said he knows
Summerford feels guilt because she wasn't always there for her son but, along with Forte, has
served as a support system for the bewildered mother.

"I always tell her I'm there for her to watch TV or play cards to help take her mind off things,"
Vazquez said. "I'm very proud of her because she's hanging in there. I know Daniel's going
through a lot of stuff right now but he needs to remember he's a young man and he's still got
his whole life ahead of him. I love them both because I know how it is to bring up a child and
not really be there for them."

Summerford stays informed about her son's health by contacting his roommate, Kyle, twice a
day.

In lieu of the medical costs associated with HIV patients - like the Atrapla once-daily medication
prescribed to Daniel - Summerford said she is determined to create a non-profit fund in her
son's name, hoping it will not only assist him with his treatment but simultaneously help bridge
the gap between them.

"I've succeeded in turning around my life, but now Danny's sick and it's tearing me up inside,"
she said. "I understand why people would be leery of donating money to an ex-addict, but this
is all I can do."

Joe Holmes, the executive director of the Clifton Boys & Girls Club, confirmed that Summerford
has reached out to the organization in order to learn the process of setting up a non-profit and
said he would be "more than happy" to offer his advice.

"I'm willing to hold her hand, get her started and pick her up when she falls down," Holmes
added.

Though she is having trouble sleeping and thoughts of her son can be triggered by the most
superficial image, sound or smell, Summerford said she is hopeful the future will depart from
her past.

"I know life isn't fair - fair is a weather forecast - but God can't be that cruel," she said.

E-mail: gicas@northjersey.com