New bodycam footage has emerged of police conducting welfare checks on a mother just weeks before she would be arrested and charged over the deaths of her two young children.
Charleston County Sheriff’s Office revealed the bodycam footage of two welfare checks at the South Carolina home of Justine May, 31, before her two young daughters Harlow Deacon, 15 months, and Emory Deacon, 2, were found dead on September 29.
The deaths have been classified as homicides with the Charleston County Coroner’s Office (CCCO) determining their cause to be “starvation and dehydration due to neglect.”
The discovery of the deaths came after 13 welfare checks were conducted by sheriffs with authorities indicating they “observed no signs of concern” at the Ladson address.
This week the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office released footage of two of the checks two weeks apart.
The footage of the first check conducted on August 30, which was released on October 9, shows a caseworker and a CCSO deputy telling a clearly unimpressed May at the door that the reason for their visit was “because after the mom and the kids’ father separated, her mental health has apparently declined, and no one has seen these kids in over a week.”
The father and May’s former fiance, Zack Deacon, had also tried to visit the girls unsuccessfully, the caseworker adds.
People reported that texts and emails that appeared to have been shared between May and Deacon and May’s mother showed a number of relatives raising considerable concerns about the safety of the children shortly before sheriffs would discover their bodies.
In the August 30 visit May picks toddler Harlow shortly after answering the door to the deputy and social worker, before she can be seen telling them “I’d really rather not have you come in at all”.
The authorities do manage to enter the home, with May accusing Deacon of “erratic behaviour” and explaining that the girls were napping when he came by the home to visit them.
May’s tension is evident when she explains Harlow’s nappy rash, telling the case worker “I really don’t feel comfortable doing this, to be honest. She’s fine” before adding “she had a diaper rash, like a normal baby does”.
May also makes little attempt to hide her frustration during the subsequent visit on September 12 with bodycam footage showing her telling another CCSO deputy and a welfare personnel “no one can come in”.
She also complains about the number of welfare checks conducted at her home, telling the pair at the door: “I have my girls to take care of” before adding “this is like every day at this point”.
When asked about her mental state May responds by saying that the multiple welfare checks were the “only thing giving me anxiety”.
However, she then goes on to complain that her “family has been taunting the f... out of me” and that her ex and her parents were “harassing” her.
Despite the tense encounters, the CCSO would go on to determine that neither of the recorder visits nor any of the other welfare checks led to findings “requiring immediate law enforcement intervention”.
The sheriff’s office failed to conduct any further checks after September 22 citing “the absence of new actionable information indicating an immediate threat to Ms. May or her children”. A week later the children would be found dead.
On that particular visit on September 29 May allegedly told police she could not remember how long she had gone without providing Harlow and Deacon with food.