Jeremiah Myers was 11, a Black/African American male, when life in the Lansingburgh section of Troy, New York, was torn open by a violence the city’s police chief later said he had never seen in decades on the job. In the days leading up to Christmas 2017, the basement apartment where Jeremiah lived became the center of a case that would ripple through the neighborhood and beyond, leaving family members and first responders with images they said they would not forget.
Authorities said the killings happened on December 21, 2017, but it was not until the afternoon of December 26 that a property manager, asked to check on the residents’ welfare, went down to the basement apartment and found the bodies. Alongside Jeremiah were three other victims: the child’s mother, Shanta Myers, and her partner, Brandi Mells, as well as Jeremiah’s younger sister. Police released few early specifics publicly, but described the scene as targeted rather than random, and as an “act of savagery.”
Within days, investigators announced arrests. James White and Justin Mann, both from Schenectady, were taken into custody after being brought in for questioning and were arraigned in Troy City Court on December 30, 2017. Police said one of the men was acquainted with one of the victims. At arraignment, each defendant faced one count of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, and both pleaded not guilty while being remanded to the Rensselaer County jail; a preliminary hearing was scheduled for early January 2018.
As the case moved through court, prosecutors laid out a narrative of a robbery that turned lethal. In April 2019, Mann pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder, with reporting describing the victims as having been bound and their throats slashed. The plea agreement required Mann’s cooperation against White, and it carried four concurrent prison terms of 25 years to life.
White’s path was longer and more public. After an earlier trial ended in a mistrial when a juror became ill, White was tried again, and in December 2021 a jury convicted White on all counts presented at trial, including murder and robbery charges. In January 2022, White was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; the district attorney said evidence traced White from Schenectady to Troy and back again with the victims’ belongings, and said White and Mann robbed the victims before taking their lives.
