Mom, daughter get life for murder of 5 relatives
Deal spares them the death penalty and any chance for parole
Morethan 18 months after they were found lying in a cramped apartment amid the bodies of their relatives, a Bucks County mother and daughter on Monday pleaded guilty but mentally ill to first-degree murder in a deal that will imprison them for life but spare them the possibility of the death penalty.
Capping a bizarre murder saga, Shana and Dominique Decree entered their pleas in the Doylestown courtroom of President Judge Wallace H. Bateman, who told the two the harm they caused was “unimaginable.”
“This is horrible and tragic, because I do believe the two of you have expressed remorse,” Bateman told the Decrees, as he sentenced each to five terms of
life in prison. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t bring them back. You can’t say ‘sorry,’ and expect people to move on with their lives.”
Addressing both Bateman and their relatives in the courtroom, both womenoffered tearful apologies.
“The hardest thing for meto do is decide who to say I’m sorry to first,” Shana Decree said. “To my family, I amsorry for taking away
these beautiful souls in such a horrible manner.”
Dominique Decree, through heavy sobs, said her actions will haunt her for the rest of her life.
“I’m so sorry for everything that happened, and I truly don’t understand why it happened,” she said.
A case worker from Bucks County Children and Youth Services paid a visit to the Decree family’s apartment in Morrisville on Feb. 25, 2019. Inside the basement dwelling, the worker found the bodies of 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 twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen, both 9.
Shana Decree, 47, and Dominique Decree, 21, were lying unresponsive in a bedroom, and were taken to a nearby hospital. During later interviews with police, the two gave conflicting stories of what had transpired in the apartment, which had been thrown into disarray, apparently after a prolonged struggle.
The basic details, however, remained the same: Everyone in the apartment, including Campbell’s young daughters, “wanted to die” and had been “talking about suicide,” the two told police. Autopsies conducted on the victims revealed that all but Campbell had been asphyxiated. The eldest victim had died from strangulation, according to the county coroner.
During Monday’s hearing, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees said that the killings took place over the course of three days. After the two suspects were arrested, court-appointed psychologists and psychiatrists concluded both suffer from severe mental illness, including schizoid personality disorder, major depressive disorder and PTSD.
Both had sought mental health treatment throughout their lives, with varying success Dominique started as young as 5, according to her attorney, John J. Fioravanti, Jr.
At the time of the killings, Shana Decree had grown more isolated and suffering from delusions, said her lawyer, Christa Dunleavy. She “believed the world was ending and there were demons in her house, and she had to obey them.”
“Her family tried to help her,” Dunleavy said, “But the delusions were too strong.”
Since the killings both suspects expressed horror and remorse at what they had done, their attorneys said. Rees and prosecutors agreed, leading to the negotiated plea deal.
Friends and relatives of victims discussed seeing a recent change in Shana. She and her sister had talked about seeing demons, of fearing the end of the world, both declarations steeped in ambiguous religious imagery.
Ronald Smith, the father of Naa’Irah Smith, told The Inquirer that weeks before the murders, he had driven several hours from his home in Maryland to check on his daughter. He made the trip after a worried call from her boyfriend, who had been having issues contacting her.
When Smith finally saw his daughter, she seemed a changed person: Withdrawn, sickly, and not herself.
“It was like a switch was flipped,” Smith said last year. “I talked to Naa’Irah all throughout the month of January, and then nothing.”