DANIEL and SAVANNAH MARISE - 2 and 3 yo (8/2012)/ Convicted: Samantha Harper, mother - Smyrna TN

Piles of garbage, no toilet and feces smeared on the walls: New details about home of mother now accused of murder after leaving her two toddlers to die in the back of a hot, inoperable car as she napped

By Daily Mail Reporter  PUBLISHED: 14:10 EST, 20 November 2013  | UPDATED: 14:19 EST, 20 November 2013

Rotting food, no working toilet and feces splattered all over the walls - those were some of the deplorable conditions inside of the Tennessee home of a woman accused of killing her two young children by locking them in the back seat of a car on a hot day in August of 2012, as she went and took a nap, according to a recently released report.

When authorities found the bodies of the two children - 2-year-old Daniel and 3-year-old Savannah Marise - the thermometers used to measure their body temperatures maxed out at 107 degrees.

Additionally, the report states, 25-year-old Samantha Harper knew the car in which she locked the children didn't even work, which has investigators doubting her claim that the children's death was just a tragic accident.

Monster: Samantha Harper had her children living in filth before allegedly killing them by leaving them locked in a hot car

Tragedy: Harper's daughter, Savannah, 3, cooked to death after she was left in the back of a hot car with her brother, Daniel, 2

Filth: Crime scene photos show piles of filth strewn about Samantha Harper's home

Harper has since been been charged with two counts each of murder and aggravated child abuse in the August, 2012 deaths of her two children. She awaits a five-day trial expected to take place in February.

The Tennessee Department of Child Services recently released thousands of pages of child death records, including 44 pages about the deaths of the Marise children. The names of children were redacted from the reports, but the Tennessean was able to independently confirm the pages related to the deaths of the Marise children.
The records paint a grisly picture of life for the children in their mother's home, which was later condemned due to its dreadful condition.

'The children did not have beds and the walls in the room had food and feces smeared and splattered on them,' records state. 'When the children were found deceased they were found to have cuts on their hands and they were filthy.'

Gross: Authorities say Harper's home was without a working toilet

Neglect: Amongst the mounds of filth, authorities found piles of soiled diapers inside the home

Records and photographs of the home taken after the deaths of the two children show mounds of garbage, rotting food, fast food bags, piles of soda cans, used diapers and cigarette burns on the walls and floors. Additionally, investigators discovered that the home had no working toilet.

But the investigation into the deaths wasn't the first time authorities paid a visit to Harper's house of filth - in both October of 2010 and October of 2011, DCS sent child neglect investigators to the home to follow up on allegations of environmental neglect and lack of supervision after neighbors found the children wandering around outside as Harper was sleeping.

In each case DCS investigators determined that there were 'no services needed.'

On the day of the alleged murders, paramedics rushed to Harper's home after she called 9-1-1 from a neighbors house to report that she found the children unresponsive in the car.

Stars and bars: Investigators say they found feces smeared all over the walls in Harper's home

Yuck: Rotting food was amongst the many filthy attributes found in Harper's decaying home

Dropped the ball: CPS officials were called to Harper's home at least twice but took no action in either case

Temperatures outside were about 99 degrees the day the children were locked into their car seats in the back of Harper's inoperable vehicle, and investigators estimate that the temperature inside the car was upwards of 140 degrees.

Initially, Harper told police that she strapped the children into their car seats and then went inside and fell asleep.

But Harper's story repeatedly changed - after first admitting to putting the kids in the car, Harper later told police 'she does remember putting them in the car.'

Additionally, a relative of Harper's told authorities that the car didn't work and that she 'never drove it.'

The children's father was at work the day they were killed and has not been charged with any crimes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2510781/Piles-garbage-toilet-feces-smeared-walls-Details-emerge-home-woman-accused-murder-leaving-toddlers-hot-inoperable-car-took-nap.html

That last line disturbs me as well.  This "father" was well aware of the conditions in the house so he is also to blame for at least the abuse.  That was no environment for little babies.  The CPS sure dropped their ball on this one.  If they had acted these two little one's would be alive today.  William

State v. Samantha Harper

Trial date: February 10-14, 2014

http://www.rutherfordcountytn.gov/judgesiskin/

Tenn. mom sentenced for children's hot car deaths

Michelle Willard, The (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Daily News Journal
7:09 a.m. CDT June 19, 2014

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The woman whose children died in a hot car in August 2012 in Smyrna entered a guilty plea to lesser charges Wednesday in a Rutherford County court.

Samantha Harper pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted aggravated child neglect in the accidental deaths of 2-year-old Savannah Marise and 3-year-old Daniel Marise.

She was charged initially with two counts of aggravated child neglect and two counts of felony child murder. The children were found dead inside a car after Harper awoke from a three-hour nap on Aug. 2, 2012, at her home in Smyrna.

Harper, who has no prior criminal record, was sentenced to 16 years in jail. She must serve eight years before being released on supervised probation for the remainder of the sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Laural Hemenway set special conditions restricting Harper's contact with children, anyone with children and the father of the deceased children. During her probation, she is also restricted from going anywhere children frequent.

Hemenway said she would have liked to go to trial but the evidence was not strong enough to ensure a conviction.

"There's always the possibility of a conviction, but there is also the Casey Anthony factor where you could come out with nothing," Hemenway said, adding the children's father, Lester Marise, was satisfied with the plea agreement.

"But he wishes he could bring them back," Hemenway said. "He said she (Harper) would never hurt the children and that little girl was her life."

The evidence pointed to a tragic accident that left Harper's two toddlers dead from being locked in a hot car, officials said.

Lester Marise told Hemenway his son, Daniel Marise, had the ability to open doors and that the Department of Children's Service had warned the family about the children getting out.

Marise also told investigators his son could open a car door from the outside, but not from the inside. There also was no evidence the children were placed in car seats. They were found face down in the floorboard of their mother's inoperable car, Hemenway said.

Harper told police the children were unattended because she was asleep. She said to she had stayed up too late the night before playing video games, the ADA said.

"It's horrible that someone would let video games interfere with the life of a child," Hemenway said.

After the plea deal was presented, Judge Keith Siskin expressed his sorrow at the facts of the case.

Harper cried as Siskin read her rights and she agreed to the plea in a quiet voice.

"I will accept your plea and find you guilty," Siskin said.

After the hearing, her mother, Annie Harper, said it was just a tragic accident, and she now worries for her daughter.

"She cries a lot and visits their graves as much as she can," Annie Harper said.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/19/samantha-harper-sentenced-for-childrens-hot-car-deaths/10835887/

She lived like a pig and because she was such a POS her poor children had to live in  squalor.