S.C. Mom Arrested After Kids' Bodies Pulled From Submerged Car in River

[darla]

Thanks for fixing my mess Klaas. Aren't they just adorable? How any mother could do that to her babies is just beyond me. They just released these photos on the noon news. The arraignment is at 2 pm . I think Wistv will carry it if not I will see it at 5:00 news.

[darla]

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12991810

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC (WIS) - The mother of two young children found dead in a car in the Edisto River Monday morning will be charged with murder after she admitted to suffocating the boys first, according to Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams.

Williams said Tuesday morning that 29-year-old Shaquan Duley told investigators she placed her hands over the boys' faces and suffocated them at the Trumps Inn in downtown Orangeburg.

The sheriff says Duley showed no remorse as she told her story to investigators Monday evening. "I believe she wanted to get rid of the children," said Williams, describing the lengthy interview investigators had with Duley. "The responsibility of being a mom was a bit much for her."

Williams said Duley then strapped her dead children into their car seats in her Dodge Intrepid Tuesday morning, drove to the Shillings Bridge boat landing on the Edisto River, put the car in neutral and let it roll into the water.

Duley was initially charged with leaving the scene of an accident, but Williams said he will now seek murder charges against Duley in the murder of her two children, 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley and 2-year-old Devean C. Duley.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol was called to the boat landing around 6:00am Monday for a reported accident. When troopers arrived, they saw no sign of an accident and asked for assistance from the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office.

Members of the dive team found Duley's vehicle about 40 minutes after arriving on the scene.  They found the two children in the back seat still strapped into their car seats.

Investigators say Duley walked almost a mile before reporting what she initially called an accident. "I believe that she was just angry and upset," Williams said. "She was trying to find a way to discard the bodies."

As for a motive, Williams says the unemployed Duley couldn't handle the responsibilities and finances of being a mother. "Her thoughts were, 'for me to be free, for me to do what I wish to do, whatever that may be, if I didn't have the children, I will get rid of them.'" said Williams.

Williams said the father of the children hasn't been found yet.

Duley will face a circuit court judge Wednesday afternoon at 2:00pm, and will undergo a mental evaluation as the case against her moves forward.

Related

[Sister]

Let me try the pics again!

In the arms of the angels . . . what beautiful children!

[darla]

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12993476
Video Gallery <1|2|3|4>
RAW: Duley appears in court
3:55 
Orangeburg Co. woman admits to suffocating children, Jody Barr reports
2:27
 Family offers very little comments on death of toddlers, Jack Kuenzie reports2:17  Hotel owner speaks on mother in toddler death incident, Jody Barr reports2:48

 RAW: 911 call to Orangeburg County3:02  Health Alert: Post-partum depression3:04

 Dead toddlers' mother admits to killing them, showed 'no remorse,' Jody Barr reports2:58  RAW: Sheriff Larry Williams reveals mother's murder confession22:07

 
Shaquan Duley in court
Family members observe arraignment (Source: Taylor Kearns)
Ja'Van T. Duley (Source: Simmons Funeral Home)
) - The mother accused of suffocating her two young sons and staging an accident to cover it up is on suicide watch after facing a magistrate Wednesday to formally hear the murder charges brought against her.

In a crowded courtroom Duley stood next to her attorney, Carl B. Grant, while the magistrate explained her rights.

Duley did not say much during the three minute hearing.  When the magistrate asked Duley how she was doing, she replied, "not okay, sir."

The 29-year-old did not enter a plea and the magistrate did not set bail.  A bond hearing will be held, but no date has been set.

After the hearing, Grant said Duley is remorseful and has been speaking with the family minister.  He also said Duley will likely have a psychiatric evaluation at some point.

Grant said that he had not yet seen the signed confession Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams referred to in Monday morning's news conference.

"I can assure you, I know more about this case right now than any of you...anything that's been said in the media, I know more about it because I've talked to her and I know all the subtleties and the nuances of what has happened," said Grant. "I can assure you also that there's more to be said, but this is not the place to say it."

"We're going to try the case in the courtroom, we're not going to try the case with the media," said Grant.

Duley's family hired Orangeburg attorney Grant Tuesday. He met with the mother of three for about 30 minutes before the hearing.

"She's distraught, she's depressed. She obviously has a solemn mood as you may have seen in the courtroom. She's tearful, as anybody would be under these circumstances," said Grant.

Grant said Duley was prepared to plead not guilty to the murder charges, but the judge didn't ask for a plea.

About 80 people attended the hearing, including Duley's sister and other family members.

Sheriff Williams said Monday Duley was broke, unemployed and upset with her mother when she suffocated the 2-year-old boy and 18-month-old boy before putting them into the river. The bodies were recovered Monday.

According to Sheriff Larry Williams, Shaquan Duley confessed to suffocating her two boys, 18-month-old Ja'Van T. Duley and 2-year-old Devean C. Duley, at a local hotel before strapping them into child safety seats in her car and dumping it in the Edisto River.

The sheriff said Duley showed no remorse as she told her story to investigators Monday evening. "I believe she wanted to get rid of the children," said Williams, describing the lengthy interview investigators had with Duley.

The confession wrapped up nearly an entire day's worth of investigating that began shortly after 6:00a.m. with a phone call placed to 911.

A man by the name of JoJo Rhynes told the 911 operator he was flagged down by a woman near Shillings Bridge Road and asked him for help.

"I'm on Shillings Bridge Road," said Rhynes. "A car ran in a pond and it's got kids in there. We need help fast, please."

Rhynes didn't know it, but according to the Orangeburg County Coroner, the children inside the car were dead before it even hit the water.

Hours earlier, Runeka Patel was tending to the desk at the Trumps Inn when she says Duley walked through the front door. She recalls her acting strangely.

"She give me my driver's license with the information," Patel said. "She give me the $100 bill and I gave her the change and she didn't do nothing, and straight off she walked out from home."

Duley was given Room 31 for the evening -- a room that later became a crime scene, as investigators say that's where Duley suffocated her children.

One of the boys did not go without a fight, according to Coroner Samuetta Marshall. She says there were signs of a struggle and defensive wounds to the oldest child.

Fast forward several hours later, and troopers from the South Carolina Highway Patrol have arrived at the scene on Shillings Bridge. They soon discovered the incident seemed more than just an "accident" -- a phrase Duley used.

The Orangeburg County dive team arrived shortly after and found the car and two boys still strapped inside.

Investigators say Duley walked almost a mile before reporting what happened. "I believe that she was just angry and upset," Williams said. "She was trying to find a way to discard the bodies."

Williams says he believes the stress of unemployment and responsibilities of motherhood is what led to the tragedy.

"Her thoughts were, 'For me to be free, for me to do what I wish to do, whatever that may be, if I didn't have the children, I will get rid of them.'" said Williams

[darla]

There are videos at the website. I don't know how to bring them over here.

[cookie]

darling little boys...
so sad...

[Gizzie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100818/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_toddlers_die

Lawyer: SC mom accused of killing sons remorseful

  By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press Writer Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Writer   – 58 mins ago

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The mother accused of suffocating her two young sons and trying to cover it up by staging an accident says she is remorseful and has been speaking with the family minister, her attorney said Wednesday.

"She's tearful, as anybody would be under these circumstances," defense attorney Carl B. Grant said after a brief hearing. "She's been very sad, very remorseful about all of this stuff, all of the allegations."

Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams has said 29-year-old Shaquan Duley expressed little remorse when she confessed Monday to killing her two young sons, ages 2 years and 18 months.

Duley, who is unemployed, told authorities she smothered the boys after a fight with her own mother, who badgered her about her failures as a parent and inability to provide for her family financially. She first told investigators the boys drowned after her car plunged into a river early Monday morning.

"She truly felt, 'If I don't have these toddlers, I can be free,'" Williams said.

About 80 relatives, friends and curious onlookers attended Wednesday's hearing, Duley's first court appearance since she was charged with two counts of murder. Her family has largely kept silent about her arrest, but before the hearing, her sister said she think Williams' portrayal of events has been fair.

"I don't feel that he's dragging my sister through the mud," she said outside the home she shared with her mother, sister, niece and nephews. "I actually feel that he's speaking fairly compassionately on her part."

Adriane Duley said her family has been too overwhelmed by the media attention to do day-to-day tasks such as taking out the trash or getting the mail, let alone grieving and planning two funerals.

"I've had enough," she said. "My family needs their privacy."

[Hiding Monkey]

South Carolina mom makes first appearance on murder charges. 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/18/south.carolina.children.deaths/index.html?hpt=T2

[cookie]

it is starting to tick me off that so much is being made in articles of this woman's mother being critical of her as a mother etc...this may be true, but I would suggest that perhaps this "mother" was NOT being a good parent..perhaps since she was living with her mother, the mother saw that these children were being neglected and she wouldn't stand for it?  Maybe this woman's own mother was demanding that Shaquan take responsibility for her children and care for them....It just seems that the grand mother is being made out to be the bad person here and that perhaps she has some responsibility in the deaths of these children..Shaquan is the one who killed these children..The grand mother probably saw a lot of things in regards to these children's treatment and she spoke up to her daughter, daughter gets pissy and kills her kids...Nothing or no criticism from anyone, including my mother would make me murder my children.  No one would say that it is easy caring for 2 little toddlers that close in age...but there are so many resources for single mothers out there now..including free day care if Shaquan would have put the children there so she would at least be "free" during the day...
I have no sympathy for this woman..all my sympathy goes to the 2 little dead boys...and the older sister.

[Sister]

it is starting to tick me off that so much is being made in articles of this woman's mother being critical of her as a mother etc...this may be true, but I would suggest that perhaps this "mother" was NOT being a good parent..perhaps since she was living with her mother, the mother saw that these children were being neglected and she wouldn't stand for it?  Maybe this woman's own mother was demanding that Shaquan take responsibility for her children and care for them....It just seems that the grand mother is being made out to be the bad person here and that perhaps she has some responsibility in the deaths of these children..Shaquan is the one who killed these children..The grand mother probably saw a lot of things in regards to these children's treatment and she spoke up to her daughter, daughter gets pissy and kills her kids...Nothing or no criticism from anyone, including my mother would make me murder my children.  No one would say that it is easy caring for 2 little toddlers that close in age...but there are so many resources for single mothers out there now..including free day care if Shaquan would have put the children there so she would at least be "free" during the day...
I have no sympathy for this woman..all my sympathy goes to the 2 little dead boys...and the older sister.

Exactly Cookie -- my sentiments precisely.

[Gizzie]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/20/south.carolina.children.deaths/index.html?hpt=T2

Funeral planned for boys found slain in S.C. river

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 20, 2010 9:41 a.m. EDT

Orangeburg, South Carolina (CNN) -- A funeral service for two boys found dead in a South Carolina river is scheduled Friday in the city where many are still shocked over the circumstances of their deaths.

A service for 1-year-old Ja'van Duley and 2-year-old Devean Duley is scheduled for 11 a.m. at a church in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Shaquan Duley, the boys' mother, is accused of smothering her children, then strapping their lifeless bodies into car seats and sinking the car in the Edisto River.

Authorities said Duley, a 29-year-old unemployed, single mother, may have been fed up with criticism from her mother and that her increasing frustration could have led to the killings.

Duley sobbed this week at her arraignment, which lasted less than three minutes. She entered no plea to the charges, and no date was set for her next appearance.

Her lawyer, Carl B. Grant, described her as "distraught" and said she was "extremely sad and tearful" during the proceedings.

"She had a solemn attitude and was crying before she entered court," Grant said. He said he has not yet seen the full case against Duley, but added, "I can assure you there is more than has been said and reported by anyone."

The boys' bodies were discovered early Monday after witnesses reported Duley's car had gone into the Edisto River outside Orangeburg, about 75 miles northwest of Charleston. Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams told reporters Duley had no means of taking care of her children.

"She lives with her mother, and her mother was a very, I guess, firm individual," Williams said. "She often talked with her daughter about, I guess, maybe being more of a mother or being more reliable."

The mother and daughter argued the night before the children's bodies were found in Duley's Chrysler sedan, Williams said.

"We believe this is a direct response (to the argument) from Ms. Duley," he said. "I believe she was just fed up with her mother telling her she couldn't take care of the children, and she wasn't taking care of her children, and she just wanted to be free."

The killings have shocked many in Orangeburg, a city of about 13,000 people.

Renu Patel, who manages the hotel where Duley stayed a day before the boys' deaths, said she can't even go near the room where police say the young boys were killed.

"I don't feel like opening it right now," Patel said when asked about Room 31, the last unit in the single-floor complex. "Even if I just stand in front, I remember all that [was] done to those kids because I am a mother, too."

But Patel allowed a CNN journalist to enter the room.

Inside the room, the scent of cigarette smoke lingered. Water slowly dripped into a rusted sink. A white sheet was still tightly fitted to the room's lone wooden bed, but the cover lay ruffled at the foot.

A pair of blue latex gloves left behind by investigators remained in a lone trash can. Most of the belongings inside were carried away by police in three or four brown evidence bags, Patel said.

The room hasn't been cleaned since police were there, and workers say they can't bring themselves to go inside.

[MuffyBee]

 

[Gizzie]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/23/south.carolina.murders/index.html?eref=rss_crime&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_crime+%28RSS%3A+Crime%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

S.C. town wonders: Why did two little boys have to die?   

By Mallory Simon, CNN
August 23, 2010 2:29 p.m. EDT

Orangeburg, South Carolina (CNN) -- Ramona Milhouse awoke to the wail of sirens as the morning mist rose off the murky waters of the Edisto River last Monday. Within minutes, police and rescue workers crowded her backyard overlooking the river.

Milhouse, 81, looked out the window and saw the top of a sedan in the river. She assumed the car was empty. What she saw next still plays vividly in her mind and has shaken the city of 12,000 people where Milhouse has lived all her life.

"They took a little boy out, they had a floating stretcher and they laid him on it and he was limp, but I still didn't have any idea that he was dead. I thought that he was unconscious," she recalled. Then she saw another rescue worker with another child.

They cradled the boys against their chests as if they were holding babies -- but these babies already had been dead for hours. Only later would Milhouse learn how the bodies of two little boys wound up in the river behind her house.

It began more than 10 miles away, early in the morning on August 16, at the Trumps Inn Motel on the outskirts of town.

Owner Renu Patel said Shaquan Duley appeared "nervous" when she asked for a room. She slipped a $100 bill through a glass window to pay for the night and walked toward Room 31, the farthest room from the office.

Police say Duley suffocated her two boys, Devean and Ja'van Duley, inside Room 31. They say she admitted it to investigators. She is now charged with murder.

Patel never saw the children, but she is horrified by what police say happened behind the maroon motel door. She and other motel workers won't enter the room.

<a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&amp;videoId=us/2010/08/23/orangeburg.sc.children.killed.cnn" target="_blank">http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&amp;videoId=us/2010/08/23/orangeburg.sc.children.killed.cnn</a>

[cookie]

Gizzie...so very sad...
the mom had $100..why didn't she take the evening out for herself, hired a baby sitter with that money and just spent the night away till she regrouped if she was stressed out? she did not have to kill these children...drop them off at a church...so many options open to this woman but she chose murder instead..sick biotch..no pity for that wench at all..jmo

[Sister]

Gizzie...so very sad...
the mom had $100..why didn't she take the evening out for herself, hired a baby sitter with that money and just spent the night away till she regrouped if she was stressed out? she did not have to kill these children...drop them off at a church...so many options open to this woman but she chose murder instead..sick biotch..no pity for that wench at all..jmo

Well said.

[Gizzie]

http://www.thehinkymeter.com/2010/09/18/duley-case-toddlers-were-murdered-because-of-a-bath/

Duley case: Toddlers were murdered because of a bath

Posted on September 18th, 2010 by Valhall

The mother and sister of Shaquan Duley, the mother who suffocated her two toddler children 18-month-old Ja’van and 2-year-old Devean and then tried to cover their murders with a story she ran off in a river, have recounted the story of what “tripped her trigger”.  It was a bath.  Shaquan Duley was out of work and living with and off her mother, Helen Duley (by the way, Shaquan had THREE children, the surviving child is still living with Helen).  Apparently Shaquan came home to find to unthinkable – her sister Adriane had bathed the two small boys.  That was it.

Adriane explains that she bathed the children because she didn’t feel they were being cared for “to the best of [Shaquan's] ability”.  In other words, they needed a bath and hadn’t been given one.  When Shaquan discovered that someone was actually trying to fill in the gaps of her lacking motherly performance, her cheese fell off her cracker, so to speak and she went into such a rage against her mother and sister that her mother, Helen, called 911.  Shaquan stormed from the house with the two boys…last time they would be seen alive by anyone other than Shaquan.

What happened next is that Shaquan apparently had enough money to get a motel room!  Because she obtained one, instead of, say, spending her time locating a shelter where she could relocate her and her children, and not have to put up with her mother and sister trying to keep her kids clean against her wishes.  She then suffocated both babies with her bare hand (according to her own statements).  After that she strapped their dead bodies in their car seats in the backseat of her car and rolled the car into the river to cover up what she had done.

Shaquan’s lawyer is planning an insanity defense.  The prosecution is debating whether to seek the death penalty.

[Sister]

http://www.thehinkymeter.com/2010/09/18/duley-case-toddlers-were-murdered-because-of-a-bath/

Duley case: Toddlers were murdered because of a bath

Posted on September 18th, 2010 by Valhall

The mother and sister of Shaquan Duley, the mother who suffocated her two toddler children 18-month-old Ja’van and 2-year-old Devean and then tried to cover their murders with a story she ran off in a river, have recounted the story of what “tripped her trigger”.  It was a bath.  Shaquan Duley was out of work and living with and off her mother, Helen Duley (by the way, Shaquan had THREE children, the surviving child is still living with Helen).  Apparently Shaquan came home to find to unthinkable – her sister Adriane had bathed the two small boys.  That was it.

Adriane explains that she bathed the children because she didn’t feel they were being cared for “to the best of [Shaquan's] ability”.  In other words, they needed a bath and hadn’t been given one.  When Shaquan discovered that someone was actually trying to fill in the gaps of her lacking motherly performance, her cheese fell off her cracker, so to speak and she went into such a rage against her mother and sister that her mother, Helen, called 911.  Shaquan stormed from the house with the two boys…last time they would be seen alive by anyone other than Shaquan.

What happened next is that Shaquan apparently had enough money to get a motel room!  Because she obtained one, instead of, say, spending her time locating a shelter where she could relocate her and her children, and not have to put up with her mother and sister trying to keep her kids clean against her wishes.  She then suffocated both babies with her bare hand (according to her own statements).  After that she strapped their dead bodies in their car seats in the backseat of her car and rolled the car into the river to cover up what she had done.

Shaquan’s lawyer is planning an insanity defense.  The prosecution is debating whether to seek the death penalty.

Insane?? of course she is insane, but there is a difference between knowing right from wrong and being insane.  She knew the consequences of her actions, thus the madeup story.  When pigs fly (no offense to the pigs).

[darla]

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13124933

This is the Sheriiff for the county that the little boys were murdered. May he Rest in Peace. Thank you Sir for your service to our state!
 
Posted: Sep 09, 2010 10:32 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 21, 2010 8:14 PM EDT
Video Gallery 
Orangeburg County sheriff hospitalized, Jackie Faye reports
1:43 
 
- Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams has died after being hospitalized for nearly a month. County Councilman Harry F. Wimberly said Williams' family told him the sheriff died around 5:00pm Tuesday.

A cause of death has not been released by the family or confirmed by officials. Williams was first admitted to the Regional Medical Center on August 30, but later transported to Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia.

"His passing leaves a void in the state's law enforcement community that was filled by a man with a giant heart for his county and the state," said Chief Deputy Barbara Walters. "His love for the citizens of Orangeburg County was marked by more than 30 years as a community servant."

"Sheriff Williams was a great great guy. He was a gentle giant," said Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster, who often worked with Williams on training issues through the SC Sheriff's Association. "He was a kind, gentle man whose life was dedicated to law enforcement and the improvement of his profession and his county. It was my pleasure to have known him and to have worked with him."

A spokesman for Governor Mark Sanford said under South Carolina law, Chief Deputy Walters assumes the role of acting sheriff until a special election can be held.

Department spokesperson Keisa Gunby-Peterson said the daily operations of the sheriff's office are being handled by command staff, and said the department is "ever vigilant in our efforts to provide law enforcement services to the citizens of Orangeburg County."

Williams won his office for the first time in 2000. His department received national and regional attention in recent months as deputies investigated a string of high-profile, unrelated child killings that took place in Orangeburg County.

Funeral arrangements will be announced by

[Sister]

Sympathy to the Williams family.

[Sassycat]

Such a sad story.   

Prayers for the Williams' family and friends.