Lamora Williams, a mother in Atlanta, Georgia, is accused of murdering her two young children in one of the most horrific ways possible: By putting them in the oven.
Williams is accused of then turning the oven on, killing 1-year-old son Ja’Karter Penn and 2-year-old Ke-Yaunte Penn, The Associated Press is reporting. A third child in the residence was not harmed, according to AP.
The murders occurred on October 12 or 13. You can read the arrest warrant in the case here. The mother has now been charged in the deaths.
The family told Atlanta media that Williams had struggled with mental health issues for years.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Deaths Were Discovered When Lamora Williams Allegedly Called the Children’s Father on Video Chat
Ja’karter and Kman with their father.
The horrors in the house were discovered, reports CBS News, when Williams allegedly called the father of the children, Jameel Penn, “by video chat …to tell him the children were dead.”
“Penn says Williams panned around the room, and he called police after seeing his sons on the floor,” reported CBS.
The video has not been released.
In a GoFundMe page established after the deaths, the father, Jameel Penn, wrote, “I want everyone to use my story as a helping hand. I lost my 2 young boys to violence and I want to be a difference maker in someone else’s life to prevent a child being hurt.”
2. Police Allege Williams Intentionally Murdered the Children
Atlanta mother, Lamora Williams is charged for allegedly murdering her 2 kids. @wsbtv #Nightbeat
The arrest warrant alleges that Lamora Williams committed the murders between 12 a.m. October 12 and 11 p.m. October 13 in Atlanta. She “knowingly and intentionally did cause of the death” of both children, the warrant alleges, “by placing them in an oven and turning it on.”
The warrant says Williams is 24-years-old.
The children had burns on their body when they were discovered by police. “The stove was removed from the apartment by police for further forensic investigation,” 11Alive reported.
Penn appeared live on a local radio station to talk about the deaths.
“It clicked when we first met,” Penn said in the radio interview of his relationship with Williams, whom he said he met at age 17 or 18. “…it was good.” He said the relationship got a bit rocky after the birth of their first child.
“It still feels like a dream,” he said, describing what happened as “mind boggling.” He spent the night lying in bed with his surviving son, unable to sleep.
Here’s more of that interview.
The hosts implored him to get help, and it was announced that the family will get free funeral services.
3. Williams’ Mother Called Her a ‘Sick Person’
Family and friends want to know why 24 y/o Lamora Williams murdered her own kids. Williams’ 1 & 2 y/o boys were found dead in her apartment.
Lamora Williams’ mother spoke out to CBS46 and called her daughter a “sick person.”
“My daughter is a sick person if she did what I think she did,” Brenda Williams told the television station, but she said she was not surprised. She wore dark sunglasses “to hide her tears,” CBS46 reported.
“Mora wasn’t right, she hasn’t been right and what happened three months ago, that the kids father left her, I told him something tragic is going to happen. She’s going to do something to those kids, she’s going to do something to herself,” said Brenda Williams to the television station.
Penn said in the radio interview that Williams’ parents had said she had mental illness since birth. When her father was found dead in 2014, that made things worse, he said. “After that, it was just worse and worse over time. Every year after 2014, it got worse and worse,” Penn told the radio hosts.
He said arguments ensued. Williams’ father “did everything for her,” Penn said. “That was her backbone, and when she lost him, she lost the world.”
4. Williams’ Family Said She Had Postpartum Depression & Used to Cut the Heads off Dolls
“This mental situation she has, she’s not herself.” Lamora Williams’ sister says toddlers’ death could’ve been prevented. Live @ 11. @wsbtv
Williams’ sister, Tabitha, painted a disturbing picture of Lamora to CBS46.
“She had issues and the fact that the state failed her, that’s a problem,” said Tabitha Hollingworth to the television station, adding that, “She routinely left her children home alone and had even attempted to cut her wrists.”
“She was a slow learner. I had to pull her out of school and do home school,” Williams’ mother told the television station. “She would do little simple things like cut her, my other daughter, her dolls heads off.”
The mother added, “You know we see stuff like this in horror movies, but in my family my two littlest grand kids are gone because of what my daughter did. I might need to get help, this is hard.”
5. Williams Had Called a Friend After the Murders, Reports Allege
Williams didn’t stop at calling Penn. She also called a friend after the deaths, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
When the friend asked what was wrong, Williams allegedly responded, “I can’t do it no more,” the newspaper reported.
“The friend said that Williams told her the boys were dead. ‘I said, ‘Call the police Mora. Just call the police,’ the friend told AJC.
Williams told police that she left the children with a babysitter and returned to find them dead, but police don’t believe that story, according to the newspaper.