When Teenagers Kill: Evil Mom or Bad Girls?
Just What Exactly is Matricide?
Parricide is the killing of a parent or near relative (or one's own self). Patricide is the killing of one's father. Matricide is the killing of one’s mother. In the case of teen girls, this normally happens for one of two reasons: (1) In reaction to a mother's extensive abuse or (2) they are the abusers themselves.
Troubled Teens Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead
Warning Signs: Snapshot of a Troubled Teenager
Teens who kill their mothers tend to come from dysfunctional families. In the case of the abused teenage girl, she will usually hail from a home of violence,substance abuse, and/or other forms of abuse and neglect. Many times, she lives in a single parent home. It is not unusual for teen girls to solicit assistance from others before finally resorting to killing her mother in order to escape an unbearably abusive situation. In the case of an abusive teenage girl, a pattern of escalating violence towards the mother is usually observed. Other negative behaviors can also be present, i.e., lying, truancy, rebellion, and theft. Often, there is a pattern and record of family conflict that escalates in frequency and severity. For more information concerning this, click here.
“Teen years are fraught with angst, emotion, and questioning authority. Teenagers are basically hard-wired to butt heads with their parents,” says Stuart Goldman, MD, director of psychiatric education at Children's Hospital in Boston. "Adolescence is a time of rapid change for kids both physically and cognitively," he explains. It is normal for teenagers to fail to do their chores without 10 reminders, to put off their homework, to be emotional, to lose important things, to like music that is too loud, and to sometimes counter or question authority. What is abnormal behavior? Sudden profound changes in personality, angry outbursts of profanity, extreme disrespect for people and things, addictions, sudden failing grades, not sleeping or sleeping too much, extreme weight loss, eating disorders, self-harm, running away, or self-imposed isolation. For more information concerning signs of a troubled teen, click here. Does this mean a teen with abnormal behavior will kill a parent? Not necessarily. It does mean that the parent should seek help or intervention to determine the nature of the problem.
The Whitehead Family in Pictures
Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead
Atlanta Journal Constitutional
Jarmecca "Nikki" Whitehead
Atlanta Journal Constitutional/Provided by Yucca Harris
Atlanta Journal Constitutional/Provided by Lynda Whitehead
Confessions of Matricide: What Really Happened with the Whiteheads?
Jarmecca "Nikki" Whitehead, 34, was stabbed multiple times before her body was dragged into a bathtub inside her Conyers, Georgia home January 13, 2010. Her 16 year-old twins, Jasmiyah (known as "Jas") and Tasmiyah ("Tas") Whitehead, ultimately confessed to killing her and plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a court of law. Each was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
According to the twins, they did not intend to kill their mother. The entire altercation arose from them oversleeping. Upon awaking and going into the family's kitchen, they encountered a furious Jarmecca. According to the twins, Jarmecca had threatened them with a pot from the stove after they woke up late, waving the pot around, and they thought she was trying to hit them. By the twins' account, all three were yelling and they wrestled the pot away from their mother when she grabbed a kitchen knife.
The fight then moved into the living room. Jasmiyah said she smashed a vase over her mother’s head, and in response Jarmecca bit her in the chest. Jasmiyah said that she punched her mother to get her off of her. Tasmiyah said she grabbed the knife and stabbed Jarmecca. Evidence suggests that Jasmiyah tried to choke Jarmecca with a ribbon she’d won. Jasmiyah said that she, too, grabbed the knife and began stabbing her mother.
According to District Attorney Richard R. Read, at some point before the fight escalated, Jarmecca Whitehead left the house seeking help from a neighbor. When no one immediately answered the door, she returned home. He said, “Tas said Nikki came and sat down in the kitchen … she was tired. Tas said Nikki lunged at the knife. Eventually the blows necessary to bring about the death of Nikki Whitehead were given.” The girls said that they then dragged their mother to the bathtub, drowning her.
Jarmecca Whitehead was found in a pool of blood, beaten and with multiple stab wounds. According to prosecutors, she suffered significant stab wounds to her lungs, jugular, and the back of her neck, where her spinal cord was severed.
To see the twin's full confessions, click here.
Jarmecca "Nikki" Whitehead, 34
New York Daily News
The Whiteheads History
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, prosecutors said that there was an apparent history of violent family turmoil that had been brewing for years before finally exploding on the morning of Jan. 13, 2010. Prosecutors said strife between Della Frazier and Jarmecca Whitehead contributed to the conflict with the twins. When the twins became teenagers, their grades had begun to drop and they started getting into trouble. Before that time, the girls had been straight-A students and Girl Scouts.
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