GUILTY PA - Five Dead from Domestic Violence, Bucks County, 25 Feb 2019 *Arrests*

[david.r.feeney]

Bucks County woman accused of killing 5 withdrew her son from school weeks before his death

Shana Decree pulled her son out of a Pennsylvania school weeks ago. Then with the help of her 19-year-old daughter, she allegedly killed him and four family members, authorities said. Decree withdrew her son, Damon Decree Jr., 13, from school and didn’t follow up with a plan for his education as expected, Superintendent Jason Harris of the Morrisville School District told CNN.

She called the school district two weeks ago, saying her son was not returning to class because she was planning on home schooling him, Harris told CNN affiliate KYW. She was required to provide the superintendent with a home school curriculum, but she never did, he added.

Damon was later found dead in an apartment along with his sister, aunt, and twin cousins. The boy’s father, Damon Decree Sr., said he believes his estranged wife and daughter were involved in a cult. “From my niece, apparently they had dissected into some type of cult that they materialized online,” he told CNN affiliate WTVD. “I don’t know how, what kind of cult. And they were talking about demons being all around them.” ...

Decree Sr. is now grieving the loss of his son, allegedly at the hands of his wife and daughter. “I don’t want them in no insane asylum,” he told WTVD. “I want to see them in jail for the rest of their life.”

 

[Trudie]

Wow, really a bizarre story.

 

[YESorNO]

Officials Release Cause Of Death In Murders Of 5 People In Morrisville (with clip)

March 29, 2019

"BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) – Officials have released the cause of death in the killing of five people, including three children, in Morrisville, Bucks County last month. Shana Decree, 46, and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique, face five counts of criminal homicide in the Feb. 25 slayings.

The medical examiner found that four of victims, 9-year-old twin sisters Imani and Erika Allen, Naa’Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree, Jr., 13, died by asphyxiation.

Jamilla Campbell, 42-year-old mother to Imani and Erika Allen, died from strangulation....

Both Shana and Dominique Decree will appear in court on April 25 for a preliminary hearing at the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown Borough."

Officials Release Cause Of Death In Murders Of 5 People In Morrisville

(The victims have been identified as 25-year-old Naa’Irah Smith, 13-year-old Damon Decree Jr., 42-year-old Jamilla Campbell and her 9-year-old twins.)

 

[Trudie]

Tysm YesorNo

Gonna be real interesting to see what defense comes up with.

 

[YESorNO]

Tysm YesorNo

Gonna be real interesting to see what defense comes up with.

Yes it will be.

 

[YESorNO]

Mother and daughter charged with killing 5 in Bucks will head to court next month

April 25, 2019

"The mother and daughter who prosecutors say killed five members of their family, including three children, in a cramped Morrisville apartment waived a court hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday and are set to be arraigned in Bucks County court next month.

Shana Decree, 46 and her daughter Dominique, 19, were to appear before District Judge John J. Durkin in Doylestown for a preliminary hearing on murder and related charges, but through their lawyers, they agreed to skip that step. Such hearings, at which prosecutors present evidence and ask a judge to hold the case for trial, typically offer the first public glimpse of how law enforcement officials believe a crime unfolded and why. In this case, those details are elusive, and the motive in the case remains a mystery...."

Mother and daughter charged with killing 5 in Bucks will head to court next month

 

[YESorNO]

Family in Morrisville murder case had child welfare involvement in NJ

Aug 15, 2019

"The revelation the Decree family was on the radar of New Jersey child welfare authorities years before two members allegedly murdered three children and two adult relatives raises new questions for one child advocate.

The family of a 13-year-old boy killed along with four other relatives in a Morrisville apartment earlier this year had been on the radar of New Jersey child welfare authorities for seven years, and had two confirmed reports of sexual abuse, according to Pennsylvania records.

The revelations in the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services quarterly summaries of child fatalities and near fatalities are the first new details to emerge in the mysterious murder case since the arrests of Shana Decree, 46, and her 19-year-old daughter Dominique Decree on homicide and conspiracy charges.

Bucks County authorities have not revealed any potential motives for the Feb. 23 murders of Decree’s son, Damon Decree, 13, daughter Naa’Irah Smith, 25, Decree’s sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, and Campbell’s twin 9-year-old daughters Erika and Imani Allen. County officials also have not offered an explanation for a child welfare worker visit that led to the discovery of the murders...."

Family in Morrisville murder case had child welfare involvement in NJ

 

[Loudmouth]

I am curious as well. They lived a most strange existence, imo, with a most tragic final chapter.
Imagine being incarcerated with this mom/daughter duo. Yikes

Shana, Dominique and Damon lived in the place that is now the crime scene. Jamila and her twins lived someplace else. All of a sudden they all moved in together a couple of months before the killings.

 

[Loudmouth]

This case is very weird. I can't think of any possible defense except insanity, and that usually doesn't work.

The prosecutor isn't buying the cult story. At one of their many rescheduled hearings the prosecutor said the "motive in this case is shocking". I can't imagine what it could be.

But here's some thoughts:

The DCF worker that checked on the children said Shana and Dominique appeared to be under the influence of something. Plus when they were found, Shana was unconscious and Dominique was seizing. So perhaps drugs played a part. I don't think it was money because they were all supposed to die and there'd be no one to spend it.
Control? Jim Jones type thing- Shana and Dominique wanted to die but were too scared to go alone?
The trial is supposed to be in June. Bet it won't go to trial until 2021.

 

[Dre]

I don’t really see why they wouldn’t “buy” the “cult” theory, that’s essentially what it was give or take some of the commonly seen/stereotypical occurrences with “cults” seen throughout history.. And I hope that’s not being taken as me minimizing what they did at all... moo

 

[Loudmouth]

The police chief said they found nothing in the apartment that indicated cult activity- no books, dvds, etc. Also when people are in a cult they don't lie to detectives like these 2 defendants. Initially they said it was Nairah's ex boyfriend. Cult members say stuff like "We ate the poison applesauce because we wanted to ride on the comet." They claim what they do, often proudly. Look how Lori Vallow is always smiling.

 

[mom2four717]

big assumptions are being made

 

[squareandrabbet]

If they all wanted to die, why was the apartment turned upside down like there was a massive struggle?

Yeah... if not for the ex-husband/father's testimonial that the grown daughter was worried about the situation and talking about the end of the world, I'd unquestionably label this a steaming pile of unadulterated horse excrement.

Because if we postulate there was no cult and that yet we've got exactly two survivors, one of the survivors claiming that a 9-year-old "asked for" death: then all roads of logic circle back to "we've got two lying murderers on our hands".

Also, maybe this is naive of me in the days of catfishing and online bullying, but I don't exactly see an "online cult" as being very threatening an entity. Isn't the general problem with cults that they (a), insist upon communal living; and (b), don't let you leave? I'm not counting a group of five people in one apartment as "a cult", and if I decide to, I would basically (have to) be saying that I think the mother is/was "the cult leader"; because I do very much think a cult is built around a personified nucleus of power.

 

[Richrd]

.

Five Family Members Killed

Two Relatives In-Custody*
Morrisville, Bucks County,
Pennsylvania
23 February 2019

Morrisville, Bucks County is in South-Eastern, PA

6)) NBC TV-10:
Bucks County Mom, Daughter Plead Not Guilty to Killing 5 Close Relative

7)) Philly dot Com:
Bucks murder-suicide plan: Read the charging documents for Shana Decree, Dominique Decree
[GRAPHIC Text]

8)) Google Supplements & Updates:
5 Not-Guilty Pleas - Morrisville, Bucks County, PA - بحث Google


Check-Back:

(Upper) Court of Common Pleas:
*B-2)) Shana Selena Decree, 47
https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.ashx?docketNumber=CP-09-CR-0002445-2019&dnh=T/ZnAQA7ZRq2+ydhRM+F/g==

*B-3)) Dominique Kiaran Decree, 20
https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.ashx?docketNumber=CP-09-CR-0002444-2019&dnh=Ifk7QlFxd0vRiBcaRlYrXA==

​

§ = Section
§§ = Sub-Section
AOPC = Affidavit of Probable Cause
Apt. = Apartment
Capital Offense = One that may include the Death Penalty
CFI = Confinement Facility
COD = Cause of Death
C.S. = Consolidated Statute
DA = District Attorney
DP = Death Penalty
F1 = Felony-Grade Charge of the 1st Degree
Haz-Mat = Hazardous Materials
LWOP = Life With-Out Parole
ME = Medical Examiner
PCC = Police Criminal Complaint
PD = Police Department
Presser = Press Conference
PSI = Pre-Sentence Investigation
Psych Eval = Psychological Evaluation
TBD = To-Be Determined
Tox = Toxicology
​

Our Support to All Domestic Violence
Survivors, and Victims.​

[Contribution # 7268
Thread # 427592]
.

 

[Loudmouth]

I think the 17 year old that left the crowded house and went to stay with relatives knows the whole story.

The online cult story just sounds fishy to me. Several family members have said that all the people in the house were taking lots of "spiritual baths" and praying in a made up language. Dominique stopped posting on social media abruptly and stopped answering her phone altogether.
Is it possible that the cult was something that Shana and Dominique made up in order to manipulate the others?
Did the 17 year old tell the rest of the family that these folks were in a cult, so that's why they assume the murders were connected to cult activity?

Does this case have anything to do with the reports of physical and sexual abuse that were lodged with CPS in NJ before they moved to PA? A cover-up?

Finally, I have one more theory about the defense. Perhaps the women will go back to their original story about the murderous ex-boyfriend?

This case is nothing but question marks!

 

[Loudmouth]

It's also possible that the people in the house simply got into a fight. Somebody was strangled and all the other murders were an attempt to get rid of witnesses?

That still doesn't explain why they pulled the children out of school though. (But my thoughts about the murders being related to the abuse investigation do explain that)

All speculation with the little bits of info we have.

Did anyone read Shana's short story that was posted on that writers forum?

 

[Loudmouth]

The trial is scheduled for September 28th 2020. Given the fact that it took a whole year to arraign them I doubt it will happen.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Mom, daughter due in court on murder charges

A mother and daughter accused of killing five relatives are due in Bucks County court on Monday.

Shana Decree, 47, and her 21-year-old daughter Dominique are facing first-degree murder and conspiracy charges.

In February 2019, authorities found the bodies of three children and two adults in the Decrees' apartment in Morrisville. Four were suffocated and one was strangled.

A motive was never released, and the pair pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year.

 

[realanastasia]

They both plead guilty but mentally ill and each have received 5 consecutive life sentences.

Mother, daughter admit they killed 5 relatives in Bucks County

 

[scriabina]

They both plead guilty but mentally ill and each have received 5 consecutive life sentences.

Mother, daughter admit they killed 5 relatives in Bucks County

Confused. "District Attorney Matt Weintraub said Shana and Dominique Decree would have faced the death penalty were it not for their severe mental illness."

So they determined the killers had severe mental illness, but still gave them life in prison? If they really had gotten brainwashed by some cult and were mentally kill, I find that sentence surprising. I'd think they would at least have some chance at rehabilitation, no? Wish they'd explain the whole reasoning behind the murders. It just makes no sense with the little info we're given beyond the victims supposedly wanting to die.