PHILADELPHIA _ The deaths of five people, including three children, in a Morrisville apartment were intended to be a murder-suicide that would claim everyone's life, two of the survivors who have been charged with homicide told police.
They told investigators that one of the dead women killed at least one of the other victims before she was choked to death by her niece, who survived, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
Shana S. Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, were charged with five counts each of homicide and one count of conspiracy in the deaths of five relatives whose bodies were found Monday inside unit S-7 of the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville Borough, according to court documents.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a case worker from the county Children and Youth Department who went to the apartment for an unannounced visit around 4 p.m. Monday made the discovery after no one answered and she asked a maintenance man to check the apartment.
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, 42, of Trenton, and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.
Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said Tuesday that Campbell's 17-year-old who also lived in the apartment, Joshua Campbell, was found safe and had not been staying there in recent days.
Morrisville Police Chief George McClay said the five victims were likely killed between Saturday and Monday. He said officers from his department had been called to the apartment in recent weeks for reports of noise complaints.
On Saturday, he said, social service workers went to the apartment for a wellness check on the children and no one answered the door. They placed a business card in the door before leaving. When they returned Monday for a fresh attempt to check on the children, the card was still in the door, seemingly untouched, he said.
Inside the apartment, furniture was overturned, mirrors were smashed, and the closet doors in one of the three bedrooms had been ripped off its tracks. Family photos were scattered around the home.
The two suspects were found in a bed inside the home, disoriented, according to police. Dominique Decree had what police described as superficial wounds on her neck.
All five victims were lying either on the floor or crammed into a bed in one of the bedrooms, with one body hidden under another. A knife was found at the scene, although investigators said the victims were not stabbed, shot, or poisoned.
"It's the saddest case I've ever had," McClay said, noting that the quintuple homicide could be one of the worst murders in Bucks County history.
Shana and Dominique Decree were taken to Jefferson Bucks Hospital, where Shana initially told police that Jamilla Campbell's boyfriend and two unknown males had killed everyone in the apartment except her and Dominique.
Shana Decree later recanted that statement and told police "everyone at the apartment including the nine-year-olds and 13-year-old wanted to die" and that everyone was "talking about suicide."
Shana Decree, who repeatedly told police of her "wish to die," confessed to killing one of the children, and said she and Dominique Decree both killed a second, the affidavit states.
She also said one of the victims, Jamilla Campbell, killed Naa'Irah Smith, and that Dominique Decree later killed Campbell.
Dominique Decree admitted to detectives at the hospital that she choked Campbell to death. She said Shana Decree killed two of the children and Smith, and that Campbell choked one of the children.
Weintraub announced the arrests Monday night, saying, "I wanted to make sure everybody knew that the people who committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and (will) be made to pay for their crimes."
Shana Decree was jailed without bail after her preliminary arraignment in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday. Dominique Decree, who was hospitalized, was awaiting her hearing. The women will be held without bail in the Bucks County jail.
There was no note from the suspects stating the reason for the killings, authorities said. They are continuing to search for a motive.
Investigators continue to speak with family members, including Shana Decree's other son, a 17-year-old who ran away from home in recent months, for reasons authorities are trying to learn. On Monday night, he was found safe on in Willingboro, N.J., where he was staying with friends.
County spokesman Larry King said he could not comment on any involvement the victims had with the Children and Youth department, citing privacy policies related to active cases.
Expanded information on contact the agency had with the family will likely be released at the end of any criminal prosecution, he said.
Outside the Morrisville apartment complex on Tuesday, Thai Hall, 24, of Bristol, was lamenting the death of an old friend. She went to Morrisville High School with Naa'Irah Smith, who was allegedly killed by her mother.
"Sweetest girl ever," Hall said. "Kept to herself, spoke to herself, was with her boyfriend the majority of the time."
"Always together," Hall said. "He's sweet too. ... Very respectful, polite, caring."
Hall looked over at the apartment where Smith lost her life.
"It broke my heart. It really did," she said. "I was up all night, praying, praying."
