Justine May
Introduction
Justine Marie May is a 31-year-old mother from Ladson, South Carolina, charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse after Charleston County sheriff’s deputies responding to a September 29, 2026 welfare check found her two toddler daughters dead inside her home on Pinewood Drive. The Charleston County Coroner’s Office identified the girls as Harlow Deacon, 15 months, and Emory Deacon, 33 months, and ruled both deaths homicides, with the cause given as starvation and dehydration due to neglect. According to an arrest affidavit reported by WCIV and the New York Post, May told investigators the previous two weeks had been a “blur” and that she could not remember the last time she had fed the children or given them anything to drink. The case drew national attention because, by the family’s own account, relatives had warned May for weeks β in messages referencing the Lindsay Clancy trial β that they feared exactly this outcome.
Background Information
May lived in the 3200 block of Pinewood Drive in Ladson, outside Charleston, and had recently separated from Zachary Deacon, the father of her two daughters, after an eight-year relationship that both sides described in court papers and social media posts as combative. In the weeks before the girls’ deaths, the breakup played out publicly on May’s Facebook page, where she posted screenshots of text-message exchanges with Deacon and complained of relentless welfare checks. Deacon was himself arrested on September 12 on harassment charges after he called a mobile crisis line about May; according to his warrant affidavit reported by the Post and Courier, May told deputies he was an “ongoing source of unwanted contact following a prior domestic violence incident between the parties,” while he described her as “spiraling” and in need of getting a “grip on reality.”
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Allegations. The charges described here are criminal charges filed against a defendant who is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The account below is drawn from arrest affidavits, coroner findings and law-enforcement statements as reported by WCIV, the Post and Courier, Live 5 News and the New York Post; the conduct described has not been adjudicated, no trial has occurred, and no plea has been reported. Statements attributed to May come from investigators’ accounts of her own interviews as reported in those documents.
The warning signs accumulated in writing. On September 9, May posted on Facebook hundreds of text messages between herself and Deacon, writing that police had come to her door “so much the past month because of him calling them for welfare checks” and that DSS “found absolutely nothing wrong because I am an amazing mom.” One of Deacon’s messages, quoted by the New York Post, read: “This is not harassment. I am genuinely terrified for the kids. Are you going to hurt one of the kids to get back at me?” In an early-September email, a female relative β who wrote that she believed May was suffering from postpartum depression and an Adderall addiction β invoked the Massachusetts triple-murder case directly: “Lindsay Clancy is on trial right now for killing her 3 children! This has been the fresh hell your family has been living every day that you don’t communicate or let us see the girls. Would Justine do this? No. Would this dark entity that is behind Justine’s eyes do this? This haunts my worst nightmares.” The same relative wrote that the girls would wake and stay in their room “with soaked diapers until noon,” adding, “the signs of neglect are there.” The Post and Courier noted it could not corroborate the authenticity of the circulated messages, and did not identify the family members.
On September 13, responding to a relative’s concern about her “unhinged” social media presence, May wrote that she was “perfectly capable of deciding who is best for my children.” Three days later came the last known official contact while the girls were alive: deputies had made separate contact with May and the children twice in August and three times in September, noting no obvious signs of concern, and the final visit was September 20, according to the sheriff’s office. Then, at about 1:17 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29, deputies responded to the Pinewood Drive home for a welfare check. May came out of the house “and began crying and speaking incoherently,” per the affidavit; inside, Harlow and Emory were found “obviously deceased.” May told officers she “did not remember the last time she fed or gave her two children something to drink,” said she “believed the children died because they did not eat,” and said she had been the girls’ sole caregiver for the previous few weeks. The affidavit charged, in its words, that she “unequivocally demonstrated an extreme indifference for human life in that she failed to provide both of her own children … with the basic sustenance to maintain life thus being a main contributor to their death.” She was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse β a count carrying 20 years to life on conviction β and the coroner later ruled both deaths homicides by starvation and dehydration due to neglect.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The father’s attorney, Gedney M. Howe IV, told Live 5 News: “We believe these deaths could and should have been prevented,” adding that “neighbors, friends, and family all called trying to get help for these girls, and no one listened. Zack was sounding the alarm and was arrested for it.” Outside bond court, Deacon himself told the Post and Courier the “writing was on the wall” given May’s reported declining mental health and her Facebook postings, and accused the Department of Social Services of being “useless.” Neighbors in the quiet Ladson community reacted with shock; Bob Matthews, a pastor who has lived in the area more than 40 years, told WCIV, “It actually made me nauseated to think that someone could take a life. We just are a nice neighborhood. And for this to happen, it just took the life out of me.” The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office of Professional Standards opened an internal review of the five prior contacts with the home, and the State Law Enforcement Division’s Special Victims Unit and Department of Child Fatalities joined the investigation.
Current Status
As of early October 2026, May is being held at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston. She waived her right to a bond hearing on Wednesday, September 30, and her next court appearance is scheduled for November 20, according to court records reported by WCIV and Law&Crime. The two homicide-by-child-abuse charges remain pending; she has not entered a plea and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The sheriff’s office internal review and the SLED-assisted child fatality investigation are ongoing, and prosecutors have not indicated whether additional charges will be filed. No trial date has been set.
Impact on Their Career/Life
At 31, May’s life is now defined by two counts that carry a potential life sentence, and by an affidavit in which her own words about not feeding her children are the central evidence. The case has become a pointed local referendum on the systems around her: a father who said he called police and crisis lines until he was the one arrested, five welfare-system contacts that found “no obvious signs of concern,” and a family whose emailed warnings β which invoked Lindsay Clancy by name β now read as a timeline of an anticipated catastrophe. Whatever the court decides, Harlow and Emory Deacon’s names are permanently attached to the case, and the sheriff’s office internal review ensures the official response to the Pinewood Drive home will be examined alongside the conduct charged against their mother.
Sources
- New York Post, “South Carolina mom allegedly killed her daughters, family referenced Lindsay Clancy,” Oct. 3, 2026 β source
- Post and Courier, “Justine May’s family raised concerns before SC kids’ deaths,” Oct. 2026 β source
- WCIV (ABC News 4), “2 people found dead in Ladson; woman arrested on homicide charges,” Oct. 2026 β source
- WCIV (ABC News 4), “Coroner reveals cause of death, names of victims in Justine May case,” Oct. 2, 2026 β source
- Live 5 News, “2 found dead in Ladson welfare check; woman charged with child abuse deaths of children,” Sept. 30, 2026 β source
- @nypost on X, “Mom accused of starving 2 young girls to death after family feared Lindsay Clancy copycat,” Oct. 3, 2026 β source