Teen found alive after mum and twin sisters die in family massacre
A teen whose mother and twin nine-year-old sisters were among five family members killed in their home was staying at a friend’s house at the time of the murders and is safe, officials have revealed.
Joshua Campbell, 17, was not at home when his 45-year-old aunt Shana Decree and her daughter Dominique, 19, are alleged to have murdered five relatives in their apartment in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, about 50km northeast of Philadelphia, police say.
After police found the bodies on Monday, relatives of the victims said they had begged authorities for weeks to check on Shana due to concerns she might have fallen under the influence of a fringe religious group.
Finding Joshua was “one bit of good news” in what Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub described on Tuesday as an “unspeakable tragedy”.
Authorities charged Shana and her daughter early on Tuesday with five counts of homicide and one count of criminal conspiracy in the deaths of Shana Decree’s 25-year-old daughter, Naa’Irah Smith, her 13-year-old son Damon Decree, her 42-year-old sister Jamilla Campbell, and Ms Campbell’s twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen, Mr Weintraub said.
Police were investigating the cause of the deaths and possible motives.
Asked whether it could have been a murder-suicide pact, Mr Weintraub said “that is a potentiality”.
Both Shana and Dominique, who had visible injuries to her neck, gave police an account of how they killed each person, prosecutors said in court papers.
The women also alleged Shana’s sister Ms Campbell had choked one victim to death before being choked to death by Dominique.
“Shana later told police that everyone at the apartment, including the nine-year-olds and the 13-year-old, wanted to die,” prosecutors said in an arrest affidavit.
“Shana advised that all, including the children, were talking about suicide.”
Family says calls for help went unanswered
Shana Decree’s niece Toya Nelson said she was beyond heartbroken after her calls for help went unanswered.
“We’ve been trying to call for three weeks and I’m so angry at city officials because we’ve been calling them,” Ms Nelson said in a phone interview.
“It just makes me angry because now they want to be sorry but you had the opportunity to save them.”
Ms Nelson, 29, said she began to worry about the family after learning from relatives the children were no longer attending school and the family was getting wrapped up in a fringe religious group.
She said authorities had visited the home at least two weeks ago but found no cause for concern.
A representative for the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Shana was held without bail and did not enter a plea during a brief Tuesday arraignment, according to court records.
Her daughter, Dominique, was expected to be arraigned later.
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