"Infant Twins" SMALLS - 18 Months/ Accused: Mother-Stacey Smalls - Tacony (N of Philly) PA

Police charged a 41-year-old Tacony woman Friday with murdering her
18-month-old twin children, an act police sources said was apparently
brought on by learning that her husband was having an affair with one of
her close relatives.
Stacey Smalls, a former corrections officer
who most recently worked at a nursing home in the Northeast, suffocated
her children and also drowned her daughter Thursday, police said. She
also is expected to face charges for attempting to kill her 4-year-old
daughter by giving her a poisoned drink, said Philadelphia Capt. James
Clark of the homicide unit. But the girl became suspicious and stopped
drinking it.
"She’s apparently an extremely bright little girl," Clark said Friday. "It didn’t taste right to her."
Police
have not said what Smalls used to spike the child’s drink. The girl was
taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children for observation. She
is in stable condition and is expected to be returned to her father
soon, Clark said Friday.
Smalls and her husband, Ronald Smalls,
were married in December 2010, about a month and a half after the birth
of the twins, according to posts on Stacey Smalls’ Facebook account.
Stacey Smalls learned of the affair earlier this month, sources said,
and on May 19, Smalls changed her Facebook relationship status to
"divorced" and posted a picture she found online of a car spray-painted
with the words "hope she was worth it."
Smalls left notes near the
children’s bodies, sources said, citing her husband’s betrayal as the
reason she killed their children. Smalls then attempted to kill herself
by taking pills and cutting her wrists, police said. When police entered
the house, Smalls told them, "I harmed my babies."
She was
hospitalized Thursday but has been released and was being interviewed by
police Friday. Clark said he was not aware of Smalls having any history
of mental problems or postpartum depression.
Ronald Smalls had
returned to his home on Friday but did not answer his door. Stacey
Smalls also has an adult daughter from a previous relationship who does
not live in the area.
Neighbors of the Smalls were still in shock a
day after the killings. Residents of Ditman Street near Levick, a quiet
block lined with nondescript two-story homes with concrete front
porches, said that they didn’t know the Smallses well but that the
parents were hardworking and appeared devoted to their children. The
toddlers were just learning to walk, neighbors said, and the 4-year-old
was polite, pleasant, and well-behaved.
Stacey Smalls, who often
worked nights, was often seen playing with the children in front of the
house. But some neighbors said that she seemed unhappy, and that they
suspected there were problems in the marriage.
"She looked miserable a lot," neighbor Rashanda Mitchell said. "She never smiled."
Several
people said Ronald Smalls had a quick temper: He sometimes yelled at
children who played on his front lawn, got into disputes with neighbors
about parking, and was known for calling the police for infractions that
other neighbors deemed minor. But another neighbor, who declined to
give his name, said Ronald Smalls just wanted to keep the street nice.
"Whatever
was going on between them, I never expected this," the neighbor said.
"To me, it looked like their kids were everything to them."
A
chilling scene unfolded Thursday afternoon around 4:10 as Ronald Smalls
returned from his job as a corrections officer and entered an oddly
silent house. Neighbors soon saw police cars and an ambulance arrive and
watched as the 4-year-old girl was brought out and driven away. Not
long after, Mitchell said, police officers brought Stacey Smalls out in
handcuffs.
"That’s when I saw them put up police tape, and I just kept thinking, where are those kids?" Michell said.
Teresa Venziale, who lives down the street, watched in horror as officers brought out two small bodies, swaddled in bedsheets.
"They cradled them in their arms," Venziale said. "It was heartbreaking. ... I had to look away."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/154250245.html

OMG. There has been a rash of mothers murdering twins lately.

This is heartbreaking and gut wrenching.

Heartbreaking picture of toddlers being carried out of house
after they were suffocated 'by their mother enraged by husband's affair'

Mother 'suffocated 18-month-old twins to death and tried to poison daughter, 4, before attempting to commit suicide'

Grisly scene found by husband after he returned home from work

Notes left by the children's bodies reading 'This is why I killed your kids'
with details of his alleged affair with a family member

By Lachlan Cartwright and Lydia Warren

UPDATED: 10:16 EST, 25 May 2012

A mother is in police custody after allegedly killing her 18-month-old
twins by drowning and smothering them, and attempting to poison their
four-year-old sister to death.

This heartbreaking picture
shows the moment one of the toddlers was carried from the Tacony,
Phildelphia home where the horrendous killings occurred on Thursday
afternoon.

Stacey Smalls, 41, is believed to have committed
the crimes as she was in a jealous rage over an affair she thought her
husband was having with another family member.

Scroll down for video




Police officer carries a body from a house in Northeast Philadelphia where toddler twins were found dead in their home

Her husband, Ron Smalls, returned to their home after work as a corrections
officer and found the children's bodies and his wife with her wrists
slashed.

He frantically called 911 at 4 p.m. and told police his
wife had killed their babies and tried to poison their four-year-old
daughter.

When police arrived at the scene they found the woman who told them: 'I harmed my babies.'

The 18-month-old twins, Adam and Eve, were found limp and lifeless on a bed
in the front bedroom. They were pronounced dead at 4.10 p.m. Police say
they appeared to have died of suffocation.

Four notes next to
the children read, 'This is why I killed your kids,' and detailed the
mother's allegations of the husband’s affair, ABC reported.

'She had something she felt was justification but there is no justification,'
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsay said. 'It’s a tragedy two young
babies dead and there is no excuse for that.'




Victims: The 18-month-old twins, Adam and Eve (left), were found dead on a bed
after apparent suffocation. Their four-year-old sister (right) is
believed to have been poisoned by prescription pills


Innocence: One twin is believed to have been drowned while the other is believed to have been smothered

Police believe she gave her four-year-old daughter prescription pills. The
young girl was reported to be in a stable and good condition at St.
Christopher's Hospital for Children.

Doctors were working to determine exactly what substance her mother had given her.

Police added that Smalls, who worked as a nurse at a nursing home, had
apparently made attempts to take her own life by slashing her wrists.

On her Facebook page there are signs of a troubled marriage. She announced
her marriage to Ron Smalls on December 17, 2010, but changed her
relationship status to 'divorced' on May 19.

Her profile picture
is an image of a car that she downloaded from the internet. Words
sprayed across the side of the car read: 'Hope she was worth it.' Of the
photo, she added: 'I liked her style'.


Both Stacey and her
husband have uploaded pictures of the youngsters. On one of Ron's
pictures of his daughters, he wrote: 'Sisters, what a beautiful thing'.

But on Wednesday, just one day before the slayings, Stacey wrote on the
picture: 'Really, sisters what a beautiful thing. I guess it depends on
which sister' - perhaps in a nod to Ron's alleged affair.




'Killer': Stacey Smalls (left) is thought to have killed her twins (right) in a
jealous rage after her husband allegedly had an affair with another
family member



Anger: Her Facebook profile picture shows an image she uploaded from the
internet of a car scrawled with the words 'Hope she was worth it' - in a
nod to her husband's alleged affair

On Friday, just one day
after the deaths of his children, Ron Smalls dumped items - including
their playpen, toys and highchairs - on the curb outside the home as a
trash truck pulled up.

He told NBC 10 he was not ready to talk about the deaths but that his eldest daughter was stable.

Despite the public declarations of problems in the marriage, neighbours and
coworkers said Stacey Smalls had appeared to be herself in recent days.

Tina Brown, who works with Smalls at River's Edge Nursing Home, saw her at
work the morning of the killings - and said there was no sign of
anything wrong.

'She said, "Hey, it's a good day." That's all.
She said, "Hi Tina, have a good day at work" and she left. She didn't
seem stressed out or anything like that,' Brown said.

Neighbors were also shocked by the grisly scene and described Smalls as a pleasant woman.


Shocked: Neighbors break down at the ghastly scene where a mother suffocated her toddler twins



Scene: Smalls's husband Ron called 911 after finding the bodies in his Tacony, Philadelphia home

'What was so bad that you did that?' Adrienne Birnie, told the Philadelphia
Daily News. 'If you can’t take it, give your kids to a neighbour.'

Other neighbors left candles and flowers on the porch where Smalls often sat
with her children as they struggled to come to terms with the
devastating news.

Celiness Espinosa, 36, said: 'What went wrong, I don’t know. I don’t even want to imagine.'

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey added: 'It's obviously even more tragic
when you have young children, year and a half old. It's a pretty sad
sight.'

Both Stacey and Ron Smalls were interviewed by police
following the tragedy. Stacey Smalls is currently in hospital for
treatment of her injuries.

She will be charged with two counts of murder, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told NBC10.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149733/Stacey-Smalls-Heartbreaking-picture-toddlers-carried-house-suffocated-mother.html#ixzz1vtcrNky2

Thank God he got home in time to save the 4 year old.