Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of child murder. Please take care while reading.
Lamora Williams of Atlanta, GA, has been sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years for the 2017 murders of her two toddler children in a hot oven, concluding a years-long tragic case.
Williams, clearly troubled, called 911 late one night that year, telling them she had come home from work and discovered her two children, who she said had been with a caregiver, were dead.
Williams described the gruesome scene, telling dispatch, “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 added, “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.”
Williams also video-called the boys’ father
Around the same time Williams called the police with the caregiver story, Williams also video-called the boys’ father, Jameel Penn, showing them Ja’Karter Penn, 1, and Ke’Yaunte Penn, 2, who he later said both looked badly burned.
Jameel, who also called 911, told dispatch “I just received a call from my child’s mother that my two of 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.”
Speaking with Atlanta outlet WSB-TV, Jameel later said, “It was like a real horror movie. It was Friday the 13th,” referring to the horrific incident. At the memorial for his two toddler sons, Jameel said, “Ja’karter, Keyante, my world, my everything. I’m lost.”
A third boy, 3-year-old Jameel Penn Jr., was in the home when his brothers died, but was unharmed. Williams’ eldest daughter, who was 6 at the time, was not at home when the murders happened.
Williams maintained her innocence
Investigators later determined there was no caregiver with the boys that night, and based on the boys’ autopsy results, concluded that Williams murdered her two children, ages 1 and 2, in the oven instead.
The responding officers initially reported burn marks on the children, but the medical examiner concluded that just the boys’ heads were in the tipped-over oven.
The boys’ autopsies stated, “These thermal changes appear to be entirely from dry heat and changes from prolonged exposure to heat. It would require an extensive amount of time to get to this degree,” suggesting what happened might have been an accident, WKRC reported.
Though Williams said she was innocent, the jury agreed with the prosecution’s case, ruling she “knowingly and intentionally” put the two boys inside the oven and turned it on.
Williams lived with mental health issues
Williams’ family said she lived with mental health issues and that she was struggling with her and Jameel’s recent split. Williams’ mother reportedly told the authorities her daughter should be placed on suicide watch while in custody. Williams was convicted in 2018, but her sentencing was delayed because of the pandemic and to allow time for a mental health evaluation.
“This was something we saw that could possibly happen,” Williams’ sister, Tabitha Hollingsworth, said. “She’s had issues from a baby. Issues my mom tried to address with the state of Georgia,” Hollingsworth added.
