A mother of three in the US state of Atlanta has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing two of her sons by “placing them in an oven and turning it on”, according to a report in Law & Crime. Lamora Williams, 24, was convicted of the death of Ja’Karter Penn, 1, and Ke’Yaunte Penn, 2, who were killed roughly an hour apart. Ms Willimas has been convicted of 14 counts against her and will serve an additional 35 years in prison on top of the life sentence.
The incident transpired in 2017 when Ms Willimas called emergency services to report she had found her sons dead in the home after leaving them with a caregiver. “When I came in, the stove was laying on my son, on my youngest son’s head, and my other son was laid out on the floor with his brains laid out on the floor,” she told the 911 dispatchers.
“Can you please help me? Like, can you please tell me, like, I don’t want to get locked up because this is not my fault. I had just came home from work,” she added.
Around the same time, the children’s father, Jameel Penn also called 911 and reported the incident stating he had received a video call from his wife.
“I just received a call from my child’s mother that…my…two dead babies, my sons are dead in an apartment. She video-called me and I seen it. I really think they are dead.”
After police officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the toddler and the baby, reporting they both had burn marks. However, a medical examiner disagreed with the preliminary findings, stating that their heads were likely placed inside a tipped-over oven. The autopsy report added that the two boys suffered “thermal changes” due to “dry heat and changes from prolonged exposure to heat”.
“It would require an extensive amount of time to get to this degree,” it added.
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Williams indicted
According to the arrest warrant issued by the Atlanta Police Department, sometime between midnight on October 12, 2017, and 11 pm the next day, Ms Williams “knowingly and intentionally” placed her two little children in the oven and turned it on.
Meanwhile, Ms Williams maintained her innocence by pleading not guilty. According to Ms Williams’ mother, Brenda, her daughter struggled with mental health issues and she needed to be placed on suicide watch while in jail.