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| Shana Decree, 47, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering five of her relatives, including her adult daughter and teenage son. Image : Bucks County District Attorney's Office. |
Pennsylvania, U.S :
It was an emotional Monday morning at the Bucks County Justice Center.
Two women – Shana Selena Decree, 47, and her daughter Dominique Klaran Decree, 21, both of Morrisville Borough, Pennsylvania – were sentenced to five life terms in state prison for their role in the deaths of five family members, including three children.
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| Shana Decree, 47, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering five of her relatives, including her adult daughter and teenage son. Image: Bucks County District Attorney's Office. |
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| Dominique Decree, 21, also pleaded guilty to killing her twin cousins, two girls who were just nine-years-old. Image: Reuters. |
In a crime where the “harm is immeasurable,” Bucks County Judge Wallace Bateman accepted a plea deal that saw Shana and Dominique Decree each plead guilty but mentally ill to five counts of homicide and one count of conspiracy.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed that the deal was fair in such a tough case that saw the two killers acting out their crime while mentally ill.
The judge explained that guilty but mentally ill is different than insanity.
The women admitted to the murders and were sentenced for being behind the February 2019 deaths of Naa’Irah Smith, 25, of Morrisville; Damon Decree Jr., 13, of Morrisville; 9-year-old sisters Erika and Imani Allen, of Trenton; and Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, inside a ground-floor apartment at the Robert Morris Apartments on West Bridge Street.
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| Erika Allen, 9, was killed by her aunt and cousin in February 2019. Image : ABC6. |
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| Erika's twin sister Imani was also a victim in the horrific Image : ABC6. |
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| Shana took the life of her sister Jamila Campbell, the mother of her twin nieces. Image: Facebook. |
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| Shana also killed her other adult daughter Naa'Irah Smith, 25, in the family massacre. Image : Facebook. |
The killings happened between February 23 and February 25, 2019.
Naa’Irah Smith and Damon Decree Jr. were Shana Decree’s children. Jamilla Campbell was Shana Decree’s sister and Imani and Erika Allen were Campbell’s twin daughters.
Authorities discovered the murders when a Bucks County Children and Youth caseworker was checking on the apartment. When no one answered, a maintenance worker for the apartment complex unlocked the door to the apartment and noticed something was very wrong.
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| A child services worker found the victims' bodies inside the Decree family home in February 2019. Image: AP. |
In court papers, authorities said they found broken glass, overturned furniture, and the bodies of the deceased.
Autopsies found Erika Allen, Imani Allen, Damon Decree and Naa’Irah Smith were killed by homicidal asphyxia and Jamilla Campbell was killed by homicidal ligature strangulation.
Shana and Dominique Decree initially told investigators differing stories that didn’t make sense.
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| A small memorial outside the murder scene in late February 2019. Image: LevittownNow.com |
Speaking with detectives after the gut wrenching scene was discovered, Shana Decree told them that everyone in the apartment, including the children, wanted to die. She said that everyone was talking about suicide and she took part in the killings with her daughter and sister, Jamilla Campbell, who ended up being choked to death by Dominique Decree.
While speaking with detectives, Dominique Decree said she knew her mother and Campbell choked several of the victims before she killed her aunt.
Shana Decree was seeing manifestations of demons and thought the world was coming to an end leading up to the murders. Dominique Decree appeared to be under Shana Decree’s influence at the time, authorities said.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees said reports of a cult being involved were not true, but the women did have “atypical” religious views and had been consuming related information.
“I’ve always resisted the idea that there was some messianic figure or some leader,” he said. “To me, I’m not a medical doctor or a doctor of psychology, but that’s not what this is about. This is a mental illness case.”
Speaking to reporters, Rees said the family of the women tried to check on them and get them help. There were texts, phone calls, and police involvement, but no one thought the mental health issues would end in violence.
Shana Decree apologized in court “from the depths of my heart.”
“I love them and love them still more than you will ever know … There is a hole in my soul,”
she told the court.
Shana Decree apologized to her daughter, Dominique Decree, for not being the best mother.
“I’m so sorry for everything that happened,”
Dominique Decree said.
Both women cried during the plea and sentencing. Dominique Decree was brought to tears when her father gave a victim impact statement.
The attorneys for the women said their clients were sincere in their grief and were crying for what they did to the victims and not for themselves.
Damon Decree Sr., killer Dominique and victim Damon Jr.’s father, said the violence has left him depressed and hurt. He said he tried to kill himself by overdosing on insulin last year due to the crimes, but he has received support from a professional and his family.
Damon Decree Sr. said he will miss so many firsts taken from him when his 13-year-old son was killed. No driving lessons, no consoling the boy after breakups, no wedding, and no grandchildren.
Damon Decree Sr. said he was so proud when Dominique graduated nursing school and looked forward to seeing his son, who loved the arts, also graduate.
In a victim impact statement read by a prosecutor, Ronald Smith, father of Naa’Irah Smith, said he was driving when he found out his daughter had been murdered. He described pulling into a parking lot and sitting there for an hour in shock and confusion after receiving the terrible news.
“I still find myself hurting, lost,” he wrote.
“I hope these two grown women get what they deserve and spend the rest of their lives behind bars,”
Naa’Irah Smith’s sister said in a statement.
In court, it was revealed the two women suffer from various mental illnesses, including personality disorder, depressive disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. Shana and Dominique Decree’s issues date back to childhood.
It was clear by the reactions in court that the case was tough for all involved.
“This whole situation, to me as a lawyer, is haunting,”
said John Fioravanti Jr., who represented Dominique Decree.
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| Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees speaking to reporters outside of court. Image: LevittownNow.com |
“This case does not invoke the kind of righteous anger you would think of when you become a prosecutor,” Rees said. He added that “there’s no way we could right these wrongs,” but he hopes the family got justice.
“If you have kids, go hug your kids,”
Rees said.
“If you have parents who are still around, if you have brothers and sisters go give them a hug. If you can’t give them a hug, give them a call, send then a text, send them an email.”
“The one thing that this has brought home to me is that this is all family. Take every last moment and use every last moment to tell your family you love them.”
“Today, we mourn with the families of Erica and Imani Allen, Damon Decree, Naa’irah Smith, and Jamilla Campbell, who were all murdered by mother and daughter Shana and Dominique Decree,”
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said in a statement.
“Were it not for their severe mental illness, both would face the death penalty. As it stands, they both will spend the rest of their lives in prison cells separated from the rest of us, as punishment.
“By murdering, Erica, Imani, Damon, Naa’irah, and Jamilla, they’ve decimated entire generations of their own family. It tests my faith in humanity and in God. But I have to believe in both. The alternative is so much worse.”
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