Shaquan Duley's Family Said the Mom of Three Was Angry Her Sister Had Bathed Her Children
Shaquan Duley, 29, faces two counts of murder.
Sept. 16, 2010— -- The South Carolina mother charged with suffocating her two children before dumping them in a river had spun into a "rage" hours before the alleged killing when she learned that her sister had bathed the two boys without her permission, her family said today.
Shaquan Duley, 29, has been charged with two counts of murder and held without bond at the Orangeburg County jail since last month, when she confessed to suffocating two of her three children, 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley and Devean C. Duley, 2, before putting them in the river to make their deaths appear to be an accident.
Duley has another child, 2, who is with her mother.
Duley's mother, Helen Duley, told Oprah Winfrey today that her daughter was "raging like a crazy person, none like I've ever seen her before" after her sister, Adriane Duley, gave Ja'van and Devean baths.
"She was upset like I've never seen her upset before," she said. "She was raging and I was like, 'This is not my daughter.'"
Duley said that her daughter's anger shocked her so much that she called 9-1-1. Duley then ran out of the house, grabbing her two sons, and never returned.
Duley was walking later that day nearly a mile away from where her car was floating in the North Edisto River when she flagged down a passing motorist to call the police to report a car accident, investigators said at the time. She was first charged with leaving the scene of the crime.
But authorities said it soon became increasingly clear that Duley's story didn't add up.
"We felt that the story she was telling us wasn't factual," Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said. "It was our early determination that this vehicle entered the river by intentionally being placed there.
"I think she didn't have nowhere to go," he added. "She's been living with her mother, there was a battle with mom and she wanted control but had nothing to control, nothing to control but her kids."
Duley later admitted to authorities that she had suffocated her two young sons by holding her hand over their mouths at a local motel. She then strapped them into the car seats and drove around until she found a place to get rid of their bodies, she told authorities.
Related Stories
ABC News Live