US

Woman, teenage daughter found with bodies of five relatives in US

Shana Decree told Pennsylvania police everyone ‘wanted to die’ – court documents

This Bucks County District Attorney’s Office handout shows suspects Shana Decree (left) and her daughter Dominique Decree (19) who have been charged after five of their relatives were found dead in a Morrisville, Pennsylvania apartment in the US. Photograph: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office handout/AFP/Getty

Tue Feb 26 2019 - 16:27

Police found a woman and her teenage daughter in an apartment with the bodies of five relatives they had killed, including three children, authorities in the US state of Pennsylvania have said.

Shana S Decree (45) and Dominique Decree (19) were charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy.

Shana Decree told police that “everyone at the apartment . . . wanted to die” and talked about suicide, according to court documents.

Decree claimed one of the victims, Jamilla Campbell (42) killed two other victims before she herself was killed.

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The bodies were found on Monday inside an apartment in suburban Philadelphia after Bucks County child welfare officials showed up unannounced and got no response when they knocked on the door.

A maintenance worker opened the door and found Shana Decree and Dominique Decree in a “disoriented” state, according to court documents.

Police arrived and found all five bodies in a bedroom.

The apartment was in “disarray,” according to Police Chief George McClay, with broken drywall and broken glass, overturned furniture, and other clutter.

Shana Decree was arraigned early on Tuesday, while her daughter was expected to make her initial court appearance later in the day.

Victims

The victims included Shana Decree’s children Naa’Irah Smith (25) and Damon Decree Jr (13) both of Morrisville; as well as Shana Decree’s sister Jamilla Campbell, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Campbell’s nine-year-old twin daughters Imani and Erika Allen. Authorities did not reveal how they died.

Bucks County district attorney Matthew Weintraub said that authorities were looking for Campbell’s 17-year-old son Joshua.

He stressed the teenager is not a suspect, adding authorities just want to “ensure his safety”.

“We wanted to come out here at this point and make sure that everybody knew that the people that committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and will be made to pay for their crimes,” Mr Weintraub said at the scene late on Monday.

The bodies were found about 4pm on Monday after police went to check on the welfare of residents at the unit in the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville, along the border with New Jersey about 48km north east of Philadelphia.

The three-storey, red-brick complex is on a busy road lined with car repair shops, a safe-and-lock shop and a bail bonds agency nearby. – AP

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