Tenia Campbell: Long Island mother pleads guilty to 'executing' twin toddlers by suffocating them in car
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: Prosecutors said on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, that a Long Island mother, who was detained four years ago for driving a family van while her "executed" twin daughters were in their car seats, had entered a guilty plea in relation to the killings.
Tenia Campbell, 28, was arrested in late June 2019 and charged with the murders of her two-year-old daughters, Jaida and Jasmine, by manual asphyxiation. She concealed her face from the public while holding her head in her handcuffed hands.
Tenia Campbell admitted to killing her twin daughters
After her mother called 911 at 2:37 pm on June 27, 2019, to report her threats to kill her twins, Campbell, a Medford resident and mother of a small son, was discovered outside of her family van near Montauk Point, about an hour and a half's drive from her residence.
According to CBS News, Campbell admitted over the phone that she intended to "kill herself and her babies" and that she "was sorry but didn't want to live anymore."
As per the prosecution, the victims were discovered dead in their car seats inside the van that Campbell was driving at 4 pm on that fateful day.
Tenia Campbell "later admitted," according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, that she killed the twin girls by suffocating them.
The defendant allegedly said, “I killed them with my bare hands” and that she was driving to Montauk Point so she could find the ocean and walk into it so she could be with her babies in heaven,” according to a CBS News report that included Campbell's mother account.
Tenia Campbell expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison
The victims' grandmother reportedly stated that the suspect, who was described as having a "very long history" of mental illness, had been acting "very irrational and angry" before the killings. Campbell formally admitted to two counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday, according to Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney.
As a result, she will be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on January 25, most likely. The defendant "executed" Jaida and Jasmine, according to the DA.
“This is such a sad and tragic case. Those two little girls looked to this defendant, their mother, for protection and love. Instead, she executed them,” Tierney remarked.
She went on to say, “The defendant has one thing those twin girls will never have again: life. But now, this defendant will get to live out the majority of her life behind bars.”
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
