Newly released body-camera video shows deputies inside a Ladson, S.C., home weeks before two little sisters were found dead there.
Story Snapshot
- The videos come from two deputy visits, on Aug. 30 and Sept. 12, to the home of 2-year-old Emory and 15-month-old Harlow Deacon.
- On Sept. 22, a supervisor stopped further welfare checks at the address, even though the girls’ father had asked for checks many times.
- The girls were found dead on Sept. 29. The coroner said they died of starvation and dehydration due to neglect.
- Their mother, Justine May, 31, is charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse.
Why the Video Came Out
The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office released the two videos on Friday, Oct. 9, the same day Sheriff Carl Ritchie, the county’s top law officer, answered growing criticism from the girls’ family over how his deputies handled repeated calls about the children. A welfare check is a visit by officers to make sure someone inside a home is safe. The girls’ father, Zach Deacon, had asked for several of them, citing what he called May’s unusual behavior, and other relatives and friends called with worries about her mental health.
Ritchie said deputies went to the home many times before the deaths. “We did respond numerous times to the home,” he said. “We checked on the mom; we checked on the children.” He said the children appeared to be fine during those visits. The family, through a lawyer, called the sheriff’s account “demonstrably false” and said its trust has been “irreparably damaged.”
Inside the Home
The Aug. 30 video runs about 22 minutes. A worker from the state Department of Social Services, South Carolina’s child welfare agency, came along with deputies. May answers the door holding Harlow, who is wearing only a diaper. Harlow crawls on the floor while Emory draws on the couch. Most of the talk is about May’s former fiancé, the girls’ father. The two had ended an eight-year relationship in early August.
On Sept. 12, deputies came with a Mobile Crisis Unit, a team that responds to mental health calls. May spoke mostly at the front door while children played inside. “I’m clearly not crazy,” she said. “And no, I’ve never had any mental health issues.” She said she was “frustrated but not suicidal” and told the officer her ex-fiancé was spreading “crazy lies” about her. The officer said her parents, not the girls’ father, had asked for that check.
The Checks Stop
Deputies went to the home many times between Aug. 25 and Sept. 20, and body cameras caught May with both girls on six of those dates, the sheriff’s office says. On Sept. 20, after the father asked for a check, May told a deputy the children were sleeping and did not let deputies in. Local reports call it the last in-person contact before the girls were found.
On Sept. 22, an on-duty supervisor decided to stop further welfare checks. A deputy was heard on the radio saying deputies were “no longer conducting welfare checks at that address.” Requests for welfare checks on Sept. 22, 23, 24 and 28 went unanswered, according to reports, and deputies did not see May or the girls on those dates. The sheriff’s office says the decision was based on earlier visits, the work of social services and the crisis team, and no new sign of immediate danger. It has not said who gave the order.
The Charge and the Reviews
Deputies returned on Sept. 29 and found both girls dead in the home on Pinewood Drive. The coroner said they had been dead three to five days. May is charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse, a South Carolina charge that also covers a child’s death from neglect. According to court documents, she told investigators the last two weeks were a blur and she “did not remember” the last time she fed her children.
Ritchie said his office has begun an internal review. “I will not assume that every action was correct,” he said, adding that more footage will come out after legal review. The family wants the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the state’s top police investigators, to review the sheriff’s office itself, including the father’s own arrest after a 911 call. That agency is already helping with the case against May, and a separate review of the sheriff’s office would need an invitation from the sheriff, the attorney general or the governor.
Sources:
live5news.com, abcnews4.com, yahoo.com, postandcourier.com
