Authorities in Baltimore have brought charges against a 28-year-old woman who allegedly confessed to killing her two children in their home on August 24. According to The Baltimore Sun, the decomposing bodies of 6-year-old Da’Neria and Davin Thomas, 8, were discovered by a maintenance man who was contacted to go to Jameria Hall’s Southwest Baltimore apartment to investigate a foul smell.
Five days prior to the discovery of the bodies, neighbors said they heard one of the children screaming, “Mommy, no!” Authorities said Davin had a knife lodged in his chest when his body was discovered in a sleeping bag. Da’Neria’s body was found in a bathtub.
Hall was not at home when officers responded to the crime scene. She was, however, arrested on Wednesday in connection with the double murder. And upon interrogation, investigators said the suspect confessed to the killings.
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“Our detectives worked really really hard to locate her and once she was located, she was brought in for questioning. Detectives did a phenomenal job and was able to extrapolate a confession from her, that she is responsible for the death of her two children,” Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said, WJZ-TV reported.
Hall is being held without bond on two counts of first-degree murder. During a hearing on Thursday, Hall’s attorney requested a judge to allow the suspect to undergo competency evaluation. Her attorney also asked for Hall to be detained in a hospital rather than a jail as she would have better medical care. And though the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Hall, he said it should happen in a correctional facility, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Family members who spoke to the news outlet said the deceased children shouldn’t have been placed under the care of their mother. The victims’ paternal grandfather, Theodore Thomas, disclosed the minors were temporarily under the care of him and his wife after Hall was arrested in connection with an arson incident in 2018.
The incident in question happened at the home of Hall’s mother. And her children were in the house with her when she allegedly set it on fire after disabling the smoke detectors. She was charged with arson and child endangerment in the aftermath of the incident. Hall received a five-year sentence after she pleaded guilty.
“They gave my grandchildren back to their mother after she lit the house on fire with them inside,” he said. “They took those kids. Why would they do that?”
Hall was granted custody of the children some months after her arrest. Court records revealed the children were placed in her care after their father failed to respond to court proceedings, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Thomas, however, said the children could probably be alive if they weren’t taken away from him and his wife. “My babies might still be alive today if they hadn’t taken them,” he said.
Prior to the fatal incident, Hall shared a Facebook post about her mental health struggles and how it aggravated at a certain point.
“In the beginning of the 2020 pandemic I found myself going back into depression,” she reportedly shared.
“I was not able to work because my family needed me at home. Every month I had supervised probation office visits. I suffer from myofacial pain syndrome. PTSD always taps me on the shoulder and triggers my anxiety,” she added.
