Shavonda Charleston

Serial Killer

Shavonda Charleston: The Louisville Child Murders

Overview

Shavonda Charleston was a Louisville, Kentucky, mother prosecuted for the deaths of her four young daughters between October 1999 and March 2000. The case began with what appeared to be the unexplained death of a two-week-old infant and developed into a major homicide investigation after Charleston's three surviving daughters were found unconscious together inside the family's public-housing apartment several months later. Investigators eventually concluded that the three older children had been deliberately suffocated, and authorities reopened the earlier infant death because of similarities they believed existed between the cases. Charleston was 21 years old when she was indicted in June 2000. Prosecutors charged her with four counts of capital murder, accusing her of causing the deaths of all four of her daughters. She was also charged with first-degree arson and three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in connection with a fire that had occurred in the children's bedroom only days before three of them died. In June 2001, Charleston entered an Alford plea and received a sentence that would keep her imprisoned for the rest of her life, avoiding the possibility of a death sentence.

The Death of Davonda Jones

The first death occurred on October 10, 1999. Charleston's daughter Davonda Jones was only two weeks old when she was found unresponsive in Louisville and taken to a hospital emergency room, where she died. At the time there was nothing publicly establishing the death as a homicide. Davonda's death was initially regarded as being consistent with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly known as SIDS. For approximately five months, Davonda's death remained separate from any criminal investigation involving Charleston. That changed dramatically after three more children in the family died under highly unusual circumstances in March 2000. Investigators returned to Davonda's records and began comparing the infant's unexplained death with what had happened to her sisters. Kentucky medical authorities subsequently said Davonda's official cause and manner of death would be changed to undetermined. Her body was not exhumed, but prosecutors nevertheless included her death when Charleston was later indicted on four murder counts. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Davonda Jones , Date of Death: 1999-10-08

CHARLESTON Shavonda | Serial Killer Database Wiki - Fandom