South Carolina Mother Charged After Her Two Young Daughters Died of Starvation

A mother in Ladson, South Carolina, has been charged with two counts of homicide by child neglect after her two young daughters were found dead in their home. Deputies arrived at the house of Justine May on a Tuesday to check on the family's well-being. When they got there, they found May's daughters — Emory Deacon, 33 months old, and Harley Deacon, 15 months old — had died from what appeared to be starvation and dehydration.

May was reportedly standing outside her home crying and speaking in a way that was hard to understand when deputies arrived. She told police she could not remember the last time she had fed her children. She also said she knew that not feeding them was neglectful, according to court documents. May described the two weeks before the girls were found as a blur she could barely recall.

This was not the first time that authorities had been called to May's home. Between August 10 and the day the children were found, deputies responded to the house 13 times. Some of those visits included workers from the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the state's Department of Mental Health. Despite all these visits, officials said there were no clear signs that the children were in immediate danger.

The sheriff's office said it had received 21 calls about May's address since August 10. When a recording of a 911 call was made public, a dispatcher was heard saying the office was 'no longer conducting welfare checks at that address.' That statement upset many people in the community who felt more should have been done to protect the girls. The Charleston County Sheriff's Office later said that none of the previous visits had shown signs of an urgent threat to the children.

People close to May had also been worried about her mental health before the girls died. May had shared screenshots on Facebook of messages from family members and the girls' father, who had been pleading with her to get help. The father wrote that May was 'spiraling' and begged her to come back to herself. He reminded her that she had always been a good mother and urged her to seek help right away.