Two men have been charged in a quadruple homicide in New York, but police have yet to figure out a motive behind the tragic case.
The New York Times reports James W. White, 38, and Justin C. Mann, 24, were arrested Friday (Dec. 29) for the deaths of Shanta Myers, 36, her two children Shanise, 5, and Jeremiah, 11, and her partner Brandi Mells, 22. The family was found dead on Tuesday (Dec. 26). The property manager found the family bounded to chairs with their throats slit. A family member asked the manager to check in on the family after they didn’t hear from Myers during the holidays.
John Tedesco of the Troy Police Department told reporters the family might’ve been murdered as early as Dec. 21. White and Mann were given murder charges, but have plead not guilty.
Authorities have called the murder a “savage” crime and don’t believe any other suspects are involved. He also claims that the family was in fact targeted by White and Mann.
The family’s sole survivor is 15-year-old Isaiah Smith, who wasn’t home at the time of the murders. A GoFundMe has was created for memorial costs and Smith’s wellbeing. “I’m scared to go to the corner store,” the teen told the Albany Times-Union. “I’m not sure if they’re coming for me next.”
“My sister was supposed to be with me and her children, all three of them, for Christmas and I got robbed of that opportunity,” Shakera Symes, Myers’ sister told the outlet. “I would have never had any reason to believe that what the current situation is would have ever happen in a million years, I had no reason to believe this at all.”