A 24-year-old mother of four is accused of killing her two youngest sons “by placing them in an oven and turning it on,” according to an arrest warrant obtained Monday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
An official autopsy is pending.
The arrest warrant alleges Williams put her sons in the oven sometime between midnight Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday.
Atlanta police had said earlier that the two boys had “received burn marks on their bodies at some point, possibly from the stove.”
Police removed the stove from the home for further investigation.
Lamora Williams waived her first appearance in court Monday on felony murder charges, Fulton County jail officials said.
Williams called her sons’ father Friday night and showed him by video chat that something was wrong in her southwest Atlanta apartment home, the AJC previously reported.
Jameel Penn said he immediately called police after Williams panned around the room and he could see his sons on the floor.
“After I seen what I seen, you know I called the police,” he said.
When officials arrived at the Oakland City West End apartment on Howell Place, the boys, 2-year-old Ke’Younte Penn and 1-year-old Ja’Karter Williams, were dead.
“I ain’t got no soul no more,” Penn said Saturday night during a vigil as he held his other son, 3-year-old Jameel, in his arms.
Penn could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
The 3-year-old was in the apartment unharmed when police arrived Friday. Williams’ eldest child, a 6-year-old girl, was safe with family and not home Friday night, police said.
Friends and family members of Williams told the AJC she suffered from undiagnosed mental health problems that were exacerbated by her father’s death when she was 19 and by having four children under the age of 7. They said she was also a single mother who had some help from Penn, but not enough considering her mental health.
Williams’ longtime friend, Neesa Smith, said Williams quit a job about a month ago because she couldn’t find a babysitter for the kids.
“Nobody could tell what she was going through,” Smith said.
Smith said Williams called her first Friday night and said she “couldn’t do it anymore.”
When her longtime friend pressed for more details, Williams allegedly said the boys were dead. Smith told her to call the police, but she called Penn via video instead.
Police said Williams told them that she left the children with a caregiver at noon Friday and returned home late in the evening, finding the children dead and the caregiver gone.
But police said they did not believe Williams left her children with a caregiver.
Williams’ sister, Tabitha Hollingsworth, said Williams is at risk and should be put on suicide watch in the Fulton County jail, where she remains without bond. A jail spokesman could not confirm Williams’ status, citing HIPAA laws.
Family members said they tried to visit Williams on Sunday but weren’t allowed to see her.
“She’s the only one who really knows what happened,” Hollingsworth said.
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