Sheriff Releases Bodycam Footage in Ladson Child Death Investigation

Body-camera recordings released by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office on October 9 have renewed scrutiny of welfare checks conducted before two young sisters, Emory Deacon, 2, and Harlow Deacon, 15 months, were found dead at their Ladson, South Carolina, home on September 29. Their mother, Justine May, 31, faces two counts of homicide by child abuse, while Sheriff Carl Ritchie defends his department's earlier responses and declines to seek an independent review of its handling of the family.

According to the Charleston County Coroner's Office, the girls died from starvation and dehydration associated with neglect. The coroner estimated that their deaths occurred three to five days before their bodies were discovered during a welfare check at the Pinewood Drive residence.

The footage released Friday documents encounters on August 30 and September 12. The recordings show May interacting with deputies and crisis personnel before the children's deaths, providing additional material for investigators examining the sequence of welfare checks and the decisions made by responding agencies.

During the August 30 visit, which lasts approximately 22 minutes, May answers the door while holding Harlow. The footage shows the home appearing orderly, with Emory drawing on a couch and Harlow crawling on the floor. Much of the conversation concerns May's former fiancé, Zachary Deacon, the girls' father, who had requested welfare checks over concerns about May's behavior.

The September 12 recording primarily shows an interaction at the front door. May questions the reason for the visit and refuses entry. She says her parents requested the check, denies experiencing suicidal thoughts, and rejects suggestions that she is experiencing mental health problems. She also describes disputes with relatives and her former fiancé.

In the recording, May tells an officer, "How may I help you?" She later says, "My family has been taunting the **** out of me," while describing the conflict with her relatives. She also characterizes allegations about her mental state as "crazy lies" and describes an email from her mother as "horrible."

May states, "I'm clearly not crazy," and adds, "And no, I've never had any mental health issues." The recording captures her account of the family dispute, but the footage alone does not establish the circumstances that led to the children's deaths.

Records and social media posts reviewed by ABC News 4 also document escalating disagreements between May and relatives. In messages shared publicly before her arrest, May said she had been "cleared in every which way" following repeated visits by law enforcement, social services and crisis workers. She accused relatives of spreading false information and said they were "harassing me."

Family messages presented a different account, expressing concern about May's isolation and the children's welfare. One relative urged her, "Please stop destroying everyone and everything around you," while another message stated, "No contact is not a boundary; it is severing ties and isolating." The correspondence reflects competing accounts of the family conflict before the deaths.

At an October 9 press conference, Ritchie said deputies had not observed signs of immediate distress during earlier visits. He acknowledged public concerns about the department's handling of the case and said the investigation would examine the documented encounters and decisions.

Ritchie said, "You have to understand, we can't just go in and take someone's children," explaining that officers must act within legal and constitutional limits. He also said some public information about the case was incomplete or inaccurate, while acknowledging that the questions raised deserved answers.

The sheriff confirmed that an on-duty supervisor decided on September 22 to discontinue additional welfare checks. According to Ritchie's statement, the decision followed previous contacts with the family, involvement by the Department of Social Services and Mobile Crisis, and an assessment that no new actionable information indicated an immediate threat.

Ritchie said the agency was "fully committed to conducting a thorough and comprehensive investigation." He defended the department's decision not to request an external review, stating, "There will not be an external review." He explained that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was already assisting with the child fatalities investigation but was not conducting a broader review of the sheriff's office's internal procedures.

The sheriff's account also identified September 20 as the last documented in-person contact between deputies and May before the children's bodies were found. Ritchie said her father had requested a welfare check that day, during which May declined entry to the home and refused Mobile Crisis assistance.

According to Ritchie, the deputy who returned on September 29 proceeded despite a supervisor's earlier direction to stop conducting additional welfare checks at the address. The sheriff said the deputy's decision remained under investigation and that he could not yet explain what prompted the response that led to the discovery.

Gedney M. Howe IV, the attorney representing the girls' family, has requested an independent investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. His proposed review would examine the handling of welfare calls, the decision to discontinue checks, coordination among agencies, the arrest of Zachary Deacon on allegations of harassment, and whether authorities considered emergency protective custody for the children.

Howe said the family wanted a review of the sheriff's office's conduct before the deaths, rather than another examination limited to the criminal case against May. He also disputed the department's account of contacts during the period before September 29, although the partial records reviewed by FITSNews did not contain all dispatch records needed to resolve the disagreement independently.

The sheriff's office has released two body-camera recordings and indicated that additional footage could be made public as the investigation continues. The girls were buried on October 8 in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, while May remains in custody facing two homicide charges.