Nationwide — Shana Selena Decree and her daughter Dominique Kiaran Decree, who admitted to killing 5 of their family members, including 3 children, have been sentenced to five consecutive life sentences.
Both women killed Shana’s two other children — Naa’Irah Smith, age 25, and Damon Decree Jr., age 13 — as well as Shana’s 42-year old sister, Jamilla Campbell, and Campbell’s 9-year old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.
The victims were discovered dead on February 25, 2019, piled in a bedroom inside their apartment. Shana and Dominique Decree were found lying in a separate bedroom and were “disoriented.”
According to authorities, the three children and Smith were asphyxiated and Campbell was strangled with a ligature.
The two gave conflicting stories of what happened during the murders. Court-appointed psychologists and psychiatrists found that both women suffer from schizoid personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Moreover, the mother and daughter reportedly apologized to their family for their crimes.
“The hardest thing for me to do is decide who to say ‘I’m sorry’ to first,” Shana Decree said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “To my family, I am sorry for taking away these beautiful souls in such a horrible manner.”
“I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I truly don’t understand why it happened,” Dominique Decree said, saying the crime would haunt her forever.