A woman has been charged with murder after her two young children, ages 1 and 2, were found dead inside their southwest Atlanta home.
The two boys had "received burn marks on their bodies at some point, possibly from the stove," according to Atlanta police. Police removed the stove from the home for further investigation. Autopsies will determine the cause of death.
The boys' mother, 24-year-old Lamora Williams, told police 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 say they do not believe Williams left her children with a caregiver, and have developed probable cause to charge the mother with two counts of murder. Williams has been booked into the Fulton County jail.
“I don’t want to think she did that,” said Neesha Smith, who said she is Williams’ friend. “That’s cold blooded.”
Police found the boys at about 11:30 p.m. Friday when they responded to a person injured call in the 900 block of Howell Place, according to Atlanta police spokesman John Chafee.
Sandra Hodges, who lives next door to Williams, said, “It’s just senseless. Knowing I’m not going to see those kids anymore, it’s just heartbreaking.”
At the two-story gray Oakland City West End apartments where Williams and her children lived on the second floor, stuffed animals, candles and balloons were left in front of the apartment. A sign on the door read “RIP K-Man & Ja’Karter,” surrounded by pictures of dinosaurs and a train.
Neighbors on Saturday sat and talked on the steps while children played outside and at the tree-lined Howell Park across the street. On the corner is the well-known Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, one of the businesses on a busy commercial street.
In the apartment building, “everybody is like family here, because it’s a small community,” Hodges said. She said she saw Williams sitting at the top of the steps Thursday.
“Everybody has their days,” Hodges said. “I don’t understand. … You didn’t reach out, you didn’t ask for help.”
Demetri Whitaker, a neighbor, said Williams, “kept to herself.” The children, he said, were “good kids.”
Williams’ 3-year-old son was also with his brothers in the home and was not seriously injured, according to Channel 2 Action News.
“The look on his face when they brought him out, it was a sign of relief,’” Hodges said. “But he was scared.”
Steve Burns and Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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