GUILTY NY - Shanta Myers, 36, Brandi Mells, 22, & 2 kids slain, Troy, 26 Dec 2017 *Arrest*

[gitana1]

I think it’s best to refrain from using negative comments regarding the victim. We do not know the victim and making quick judgements as to who she was is not beneficial. Many people smoke marijuana freely, many different ethnic backgrounds speak differently. Neither of which would show cause for her to be bound and murdered.


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I looked at her facebook and saw nothing indicating she was smoking or using marijuana. Seems like she posts photos of a male, possibly a teen, smoking something that looks like a cigarillo in one photo. Hope that's not her son.

 

[thekarmabus]

That's a good point. In the article posted further back, where they released the names of the victims, one of the pastors, speaking to the community, said not to let the code of the streets keep someone with knowledge of the crime from reporting it to the police. Why would he say that if it wasn't possibly drug/gang related?

Because it’s code of the streets. The comment does not mean gang activity. It’s how different neighborhoods work. You don’t snitch.


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[DAnthrplgst]

I looked at her facebook and saw nothing indicating she was smoking or using marijuana. Seems like she posts photos of a male, possibly a teen, smoking something that looks like a cigarillo in one photo. Hope that's not her son.

Provided we're looking at the same links. The Facebook profile links provided are for Brandi Mells. Shanta is the mother of the children. I too hope the boy smoking the cigarillo is not the 11yo but I have to say, he sure looks like the boy from the newspaper article. Hopefully it's the older son and he just looks like his kid brother.

ETA: Those Facebook links ARE correct and they are the right Brandi Mells. I did some cross-checking by finding a couple of her family members who have RIP messages on their FB feeds with the same photo of Brandi in their RIP messages as the one of the photos that appear on the linked FB pages.

 

[Inthedetails]

"Brandi Mells was a student at West Genesee High School, according to Superintendent Chris Brown.

Brown said Mells attended 9th, 10th and 11th grade at West Genesee High School. She was part of the class of 2013, but did not return for her senior year, he said."

http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index...omicide_attended_west_genesee_high_schoo.html

 

[Inthedetails]

Provided we're looking at the same links. The Facebook profile links provided are for Brandi Mells. Shanta is the mother of the children. I too hope the boy smoking the cigarillo is not the 11yo but I have to say, he sure looks like the boy from the newspaper article. Hopefully it's the older son and he just looks like his kid brother.

Are we sure those aren't photos of Brandi herself on the FB page? She has a boyish look.

There is a photo of her here to compare: http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index...omicide_attended_west_genesee_high_schoo.html

 

[thekarmabus]

Provided we're looking at the same links. The Facebook profile links provided are for Brandi Mells. Shanta is the mother of the children. I too hope the boy smoking the cigarillo is not the 11yo but I have to say, he sure looks like the boy from the newspaper article. Hopefully it's the older son and he just looks like his kid brother.

That’s her... not the 11 year old!


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[kdg411]

Shanta Myers loved to cook, relatives said. Her son loved to play basketball and hoped to be a fireman someday. Shanise was always interested in everyone's activities. Mells, Shanta's partner, took in the family after they lost a previous apartment.
BBM
https://dailygazette.com/article/2017/12/28/police-identify-victims-in-troy-slayings

Disregard if posted previously. May help to know who was renting that apartment. jmo

 

[thekarmabus]

Shanta Myers loved to cook, relatives said. Her son loved to play basketball and hoped to be a fireman someday. Shanise was always interested in everyone's activities. Mells, Shanta's partner, took in the family after they lost a previous apartment.
BBM
https://dailygazette.com/article/2017/12/28/police-identify-victims-in-troy-slayings

Disregard if posted previously. May help to know who was renting that apartment. jmo

I found the comment in the above article interesting. Jeramiah did not have a father figure in his life. Doesn’t sound like a jilted lover. The older son at a ball tournament and understandable reason why he wasn’t living there.
It worries me the LE are saying no suspects. If there are no prints then it could be 6 months before DNA from scene will be returned. Praying someone speaks up.


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[Inthedetails]

I found the comment in the above article interesting. Jeramiah did not have a father figure in his life. Doesn’t sound like a jilted lover. The older son at a ball tournament and understandable reason why he wasn’t living there.
It worries me the LE are saying no suspects. If there are no prints then it could be 6 months before DNA from scene will be returned. Praying someone speaks up.


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Hmm....if not jilted lover, who would have such strong feelings against them?

jmo

 

[2Hope4]

Earlier today I was reading an article that said another family was murdered near this apartment. It was 2yrs ago and still not solved. BUT, my computer shut down, and now I don't know where that article was!

 

[kdg411]

Earlier today I was reading an article that said another family was murdered near this apartment. It was 2yrs ago and still not solved. BUT, my computer shut down, and now I don't know where that article was!

Is this what you were looking for?

Quadruple Homicide in Upstate New York Unfolded Just Miles from Cold Case Killing of Another Family of 4
http://www.insideedition.com/quadruple-homicide-upstate-new-york-unfolded-just-miles-cold-case-killing-another-family-4-39354

 

[always reading]

What is unclear is where S<name redacted> is? She stopped posting in February. The conflict between Brandi and SC <name redacted> was in the summer. So not sure what happened? Dead? Hospital? Or did she leave him?

All I can see from his fb is that she was "doing better" 32 weeks ago. On his profile it says he's single.

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[shana]

From The Daily Gazette article referenced above:

Jeremiah and Brandi were Shanta's children, and Mells was her partner, police said.

(obvious typo: Brandi was Shanta's partner, not her child)

Continuing on...

Mells, Shanta's partner, took in the family after they lost a previous apartment.

Curious. Given the descriptions of the adult victims, one might think the opposite; in other words, Shanta seems the likelier of the two to have maintained an apt. Did Brandi have a job? I don't recall mention of it. I also wonder who may have lived in the unit with Brandi and if said person(s) left willingly so that Shanta and her two children could move-in.

The family had lived together in a Troy apartment until recent months, when an eviction led them to move in with Mells, Coleman said. Mells' small Second Avenue apartment did not have room for the teenager to have his own space, so another family member took him in, Coleman said.

So that explains why the older boy, Isaiah, was not living in the apt with his family.

~jmo~

 

[thekarmabus]

It’s them being tied up and being murdered the way they were that for me does not seem like heat of the moment and moment of passion murder. It also doesn’t seem like the motive of any gang . Yes, drive by shooting innocent children are hit however code is you don’t go killing small children.
Thinking outside of the box. One of them had something or a person thought they had something of theirs or they did and now it was gone. Or it had nothing to do with them at all and someone was mixed up with some pretty high up people and this was a message to not mess or turn on that person .
Wondering if any neighbors have seen the DEA or FBI hanging around.


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[Ibiz]

Is this what you were looking for?

Quadruple Homicide in Upstate New York Unfolded Just Miles from Cold Case Killing of Another Family of 4
http://www.insideedition.com/quadruple-homicide-upstate-new-york-unfolded-just-miles-cold-case-killing-another-family-4-39354

This is odd that you would have two cases with such similarities, so close to one another in such a short time frame.

 

[DAnthrplgst]

Is this what you were looking for?

Quadruple Homicide in Upstate New York Unfolded Just Miles from Cold Case Killing of Another Family of 4
http://www.insideedition.com/quadruple-homicide-upstate-new-york-unfolded-just-miles-cold-case-killing-another-family-4-39354

Well that's just odd. What is the likelihood that two families of 4 would be viciously murdered within 2 years of each other in close geographic proximity. That's some Criminal Minds stuff.

ETA: Adding to the oddity of this, me and Ibiz made approximately the same post at the same time saying basically the same thing.

 

[Ibiz]

Well that's just odd. What is the likelihood that two families of 4 would be viciously murdered within 2 years of each other in close geographic proximity. That's some Criminal Minds stuff.

ETA: Adding to the oddity of this, me and Ibiz made approximately the same post at the same time saying basically the same thing.

Maybe we have psychic powers. LOL

 

[shana]

The Latest: Sister of slain woman is raising her older son

Her full name is contained in the article. Of note:

Symes says Myers' older son has been living with her for about two months. She says she last spoke with her sister last week.

Just a factoid that *might* help in establishing a TL. I get the idea that the two women were not together for all that long a time, fwiw.

~jmo~

 

[shana]

Quadruple Homicide in Upstate New York Unfolded Just Miles from Cold Case Killing of Another Family of 4

Details of the Chen Family murder are contained in the article. Referring to the Troy case...

"Only a person of savagery would do something like this," he said. &#8220;Nobody that&#8217;s been involved in this case is going to forget this.&#8221;

It was a similar sentiment expressed by officers who worked to solve the murders of a family brutally killed in their Guilderland home three years ago. While authorities have not said the killings are in any way linked to the murders of the Myers family, some reports have noted similarities between the two crimes.

I believe the 2 cases are coincidentally similar but different enough that a separate and distinct perp (or perps) is involved in each.

~jmo~

 

[Sherlockhemlock]

If this characterization is accurate than that makes this crime all the more baffling. Who would want to murder such a devoted, involved mother? I think we can take the specter of a jilted lover/father of the kids off the table. If she moved from NC with her children then that means more than likely the father of the kids was left behind in that state.

Assuming they had the same father and she was already pregnant when she moved.