The tragic case of Jarmecca Whitehead
Jasmiyah ran out of the house in a hysterical state.
She flagged down the police officers. And she urged them to come with her. And they found her mother dead in the bathtub.
The police officers witnessed the horrific scene inside the house. There was blood everywhere. The mother, Jarmecca, had been stabbed eighty times with a kitchen knife.
Her spinal cord was nearly severed. She had been hit, bitten, and scratched.
“When I walked in the front door, it was the first time I’d ever seen something as horrific as that.” — One of the officers
Jarmecca Was Born In Prison
Jarmecca Yvonne “Nikki” Whitehead was born in prison to her mother, Lynda. Her mother was serving time for possession of drugs and robbery.
So Jarmecca was placed in the custody of her grandmother, Della.
Jarmecca grew to be a rebellious, wild girl. She skipped school. She partied a lot.
Jarmecca got pregnant at seventeen. She birthed twins Jasmiyah Kaneesha and Tasmiyah Janeesha Whitehead. But, Jarmecca left her twins with Della as soon as she gave birth to them.
And she rarely visited Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah. She only came during holidays and always for a few days. So, as a result, Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah suffered from severe abandonment issues.
The twins never got to meet their father. And their mother was always absent.
Jarmecca’s defense was that she wanted to be the perfect mom.
According to her logic, she was to be present in her daughters’ lives when she could give them the best life.
The Twins Slowly Resented Their Mother
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah started to hate Jarmecca bit by bit. But, things seemed to get better when Jarmecca trained to become a beautician.
Jarmecca also met a fifty-five-year-old truck driver, Robert Head, that same year. And the two immediately hit it off.
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah moved in with their mother and her boyfriend in Georgia.
Finally, the twins could spend time with their mother. But again, Jarmecca wasn’t there for her children despite the new circumstances. She relied on Della, who lived far to be there for her children.
Despite her absence, Jarmecca applied for full custody. That didn’t settle well with Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah because they hated their mother. And Jarmecca was too strict and always absent. So the twins grew rebellious by the day as they became teenagers.
They skipped school for days in a row.
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah often physically fought their mother.
They snuck out of the house many times. They got into relationships with older guys. And they self-harmed themselves.
Also, they longed to go back to live with their great-grandmother. So Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah often ganged up on Jarmecca. And they would beat her up, which led to the twins’ several arrests. But no amount of arrests made them stop.
The Twins Were Allowed to Live With Their Great Grandmother
The judge allowed Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah to live with Della.
They were growing uncontrollable by the day. So the judge felt that giving them what they wanted would help. But Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah began thinking they could get what they wanted if they got violent enough.
The twins moved back in with Della.
But they were too wild and angry sixteen-year-olds at that point. They stole Della’s belongings. And they would disappear from home for days.
Della was too old to control them.
So Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah were sent back to their mother.
Jarmecca held a welcome home party for Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah. She invited relatives and friends. But her daughters didn’t care.
They weren’t happy. They screamed and insulted Jarmecca at the party until everyone left. The twins inflicted violence on their mother.
Jarmecca called the police three times the following week.
On January 13th, 2010, police officers were doing a routine check through Jarmecca’s neighborhood. Jasmiyah came out of their house and flagged them.
She asked them to come with her inside the house.
Tasmiyah and her had come home from school only to find their mother dead in the bathtub.
The officers followed Jasmiyah inside.
The whole house was covered in blood. And they found Jarmecca in the bathtub.
She had been stabbed eighty times with a kitchen knife.
Her spinal cord was nearly severed. And she had been hit on the head, bitten, and scratched.
The Police Questioned The Twins
The police interviewed Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah about their mother’s murder. But the twins stuck to their story.
They came home from school and found Jarmecca dead. Also, they looked distressed. So, the police shifted their attention to other suspects.
They contacted the twins’ father. But he hadn’t been in the U.S. in a while. So he was ruled out as a suspect.
The police also questioned Robert but also ruled him out as a suspect.
But with further investigation, the police discovered plenty of incriminating evidence inside Jarmecca’s house.
- Someone had cleaned and wiped the sinks.
- They found pairs of shoes that belonged to Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah with blood on them.
- There was Jarmecca’s hair inside one of the shoes.
Also, the girls had said they arrived at school around 8:40 a.m. But surveillance cameras in their high school showed them arriving at 10:42 a.m.
Jarmecca Bit Her Perpetrator During The Attack
The police discovered that Jarmecca’s teeth showed that she had bitten her attacker in self-defense.
A dental examination was carried out on Jarmecca’s teeth. They found a matching bite on one of the twins.
They also found hairs between Jarmecca’s teeth. And the DNA results pointed at the twins.
So the police arrested Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah. They charged them with the first-degree murder of their mother.
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah later confessed to killing Jarmecca.
The Twins Woke up Late For School
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah told the police how it all went down.
They were late for school on the day of the murder. Then the twins got into a physical altercation with Jarmecca.
One of the girls picked up a pot. She hit Jarmecca with it.
Jarmecca fought back by biting the girl.
So one of the twins picked up a knife. And she stabbed Jarmecca. The twins stabbed their mother up to eighty times. Then they dragged her into the bathroom. Then they put her in the bathtub.
Jarmecca was still alive.
She kept talking to the girls until she drew her last breath.
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah attempted to clean the house. Then they planned their story.
The twins got a ride to school. And they pretended nothing happened for the whole day.
The Aftermath
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. They were sentenced to 30 years in prison each in 2014.
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah expressed that they regretted their actions.
Tasmiyah stated;
“I really wish it didn’t happen like that. I wish I saw something else to do. It was just confusion. It was turmoil. It just seemed like it never stopped.”
And Jasmiyah stated;
“I’m sorry, and I miss her. It’s not what Lynda. And all of them try to make it seem like I am. I didn’t hate her. And Tasmiyah didn’t hate her either. I guess it was the heat of the moment and built up anger between all three of us.”
Sources: wikipedia, Anna uncovered, 11Alive