Atlanta mom who killed 2 young sons by putting them into a hot oven is sentenced

ATLANTA (TCN) -- A 24-year-old woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars after a jury convicted her of multiple charges, including two counts of murder and cruelty to children, for putting her two young sons in a hot oven, killing them.

Fulton County court records show a jury convicted Lamora Williams of 14 charges, including two counts of murder, two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of concealing the death of another, and making a false statement.

WAGA-TV reports a judge sentenced Williams to life in prison without parole as well as an additional 35 years for the deaths of 1-year-old Ja'Karter Penn and 2-year-old Ke'Yaunte Penn.

On Oct. 13, 2017, Williams called the Atlanta Police Department and said she discovered her two sons deceased on the ground. She reportedly told the dispatcher, "When I came in, the stove was laying on my son, on my youngest son’s head, and my other son was laid out on the floor with his brains laid out on the floor. I don’t know what to do. I just came home from work."

The boys’ father, Jameel Penn, dialed 911 around the same time and said Williams sent him a video of their dead sons.

Officials believe the boys could have been placed in the oven as early as the evening of Thursday, Oct. 12.

According to WAGA, both children had "burn marks on their bodies." A 3-year-old boy was also at home at the time but was not injured.

Williams reportedly claimed she left the kids with a caretaker between noon and 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 13, and when she returned home, the babysitter was gone and her sons were dead. WAGA reports she asked the dispatcher for help because she did not want to "get locked up because this is not my fault."

Williams' sister Tabitha Hollingsworth told WXIA-TV that Williams suffered from mental health issues, but she never went to a doctor to have anything diagnosed. Williams reportedly suffered a miscarriage and Penn left her in the few months prior to the killings. Her father, with whom she had a close relationship, died in 2014, which impacted her.

Hollingsworth said of Williams' mug shot, "That was a demonic spirit took over her. She looks possessed. That didn’t even look like her."

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