Mother Of Toddlers Suffocated Sons Before Driving Car Into River

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - A South Carolina mother who claimed her children drowned when their car careened into a river was charged with murder Tuesday after authorities said she confessed to suffocating the two toddlers and then faking the accident.

Sheriff Larry Williams said 29-year-old Shaquan Duley told investigators she was distraught about money troubles and unemployment and that she killed her children by putting her hand over their mouths after a dispute with her own mother. He says Duley then strapped the children into her car and drove it into a river Monday morning.
"This was a young lady that was in trouble, in trouble in more ways than she realized," Williams said. "She was in trouble and she didn't know where to turn."
Williams said the responsibilities of being a mother were simply too much for Duley, who didn't show signs of remorse during an overnight interview with authorities.
Two-year-old Devean C. Duley and 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley were dead in their child seats by the time divers got to the car Monday near a rural boat landing on the North Edisto River in Orangeburg, some 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.
The Highway Patrol was notified around 6:15 a.m. Monday that a woman needed help getting her children out of a car. Duley, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.
Duley was to be arraigned later Wednesday.

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Bodies Of Two Toddlers Found In Submerged Car

By SEANNA ADCOX, Associated Press ORANGEBURG, S.C. – After the bodies of two toddlers were pulled Monday from a car submerged in a South Carolina river, their mother was arrested and authorities were investigating how it happened — and whether it was an accident.

The two were recovered from the North Edisto River after the car was found near a rural boat landing, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said.

County Coroner Samuetta Marshall identified them as 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley and 2-year-old Devean C. Duley, both of Orangeburg. She would not speculate on a cause of death until autopsies are completed Tuesday.

The boys' mother, whose name was not immediately released, was being held Monday on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, Williams said.

He said the Highway Patrol was notified about 6:15 a.m. Monday about an accident and a woman who needed help getting her children out of the car.

The children were still strapped in their child seats when divers found them and recovered their bodies about 45 minutes after being called to the scene.

"Early in the investigation, the state patrol felt there was not enough indicators to substantiate that there was an automobile accident," Williams said. "We are looking into all possibilities as to what happened."

The woman, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.

"She showed some emotion, but I can't say she was overly distraught," the sheriff said. "Through her statements, there are some things we think are not believable."

Williams said authorities were attempting to contact the children's father, who did not live with the family.

The sheriff said investigators are considering how a traffic accident could have happened at the boat ramp, about 20 yards upstream from a main road that crosses the slow-moving river. A mobile home, a house and mechanic's shop are a short distance away.

Local residents said they were suspicious.

Shakeyia Baxter said the main road was heavily traveled in the mornings and would have been especially busy on Monday — the first day of school. Baxter stopped by the boat ramp, which is littered with empty beer cases and discarded soda bottles, on her way home from work at a McDonald's to tuck silk flowers into a sign that warns of high levels of mercury in the fish.

"My heart goes out to them," said Baxter, a 30-year-old mother of two. "I would have been doing everything I could to get those kids out of that car seat."

Orangeburg is about 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.

The incident was reminiscent of the deaths of two other toddlers in South Carolina.

In 1994, in a case that made headlines worldwide, Susan Smith left her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons strapped in their car seats as she rolled her car into a lake in Union County in the northwest part of the state.

She was convicted in their deaths and is serving a life prison term.

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Six Teens Drown In Louisiana River

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Six teenagers who could not swim drowned in a northwest Louisiana river during a family outing, falling into deep water from the shallows where they were wading.

Officials planned to hold a news conference Tuesday to release more details about the deaths of the six, who drowned Monday in the Red River in an area where sand bars gave way to 20-foot depths. A seventh teen, a 14-year-old, was rescued.

Shreveport Assistant Fire Chief Fred Sanders said he believed the victims, ages 13 to 18, included three brothers from one family and a sister and two brothers from another.

"They were out here with some adults. But unfortunately, neither the children nor the adults could swim," he said.

Sanders said names may be released Tuesday, after the department is sure relatives have been notified.

The teens had started playing in a familiar area but ended up at a spot in the river where the bottom fell suddenly and that's where divers found the bodies, Sanders said.

Marilyn Robinson, a friend of the families, told The Times of Shreveport she watched helplessly as the victims went under. She said a large group of family and friends, including roughly 20 children, were out at the sandbar to barbecue and have a good time. They frequent the area and were familiar with the water, Robinson said.

"None of us could swim," she said. "They were yelling 'help me, help me. Somebody please help me.' It was nothing I could do but watch them drown one by one."

Sanders said he did not know whether one teen fell and pulled down others, or if they were trying to rescue each other.

It took more than three hours to find all the bodies, he said.

"It's devastating," Sanders said. "To my knowledge the city has never experienced an incident of this magnitude."

Only one life jacket was available, Caddo Parish sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said.

Rescue crews were delayed a bit because the accident was reported as near the Jimmie Davis Bridge but was nearly a mile away, Sanders said.

The families were in a recreational area of the Red River that has sand bars, Sanders said. The park is a popular picnic and fishing area and some people do go wading.

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