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Shaquan Duley, 29 (Orangeburg County Sheriff's Dept. / August 17, 2010) |
ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Broke, jobless and berated by her mother for her failings, Shaquan Duley killed her young sons, then strapped their lifeless bodies into their car seats before rolling the vehicle into a South Carolina river in a desperate cover-up attempt, authorities said.
On Wednesday, the 29-year-old mother was expected to appear before an Orangeburg County judge for an arraignment hearing on two murder charges.
Duley's attorney, Carl B. Grant, said Wednesday morning he hasn't had the opportunity to review any of the evidence against her.
"We want everybody to keep an open mind and to understand that they don't know the whole story," said Grant, who would not say what he discussed in his first talk with his client.
Investigators were not convinced when Duley said her sons, ages 2 years and 18 months, drowned after her car plunged into a river.
She ultimately confessed to killing the toddlers, they say -- not by dumping them in the water but by suffocating them earlier with her own hands.
"She truly felt, 'If I don't have these toddlers, I can be free,'" Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said at a news conference Tuesday.
"I think she was fed up with her mother telling her she couldn't take care of the children, or she wasn't taking care of the children and just wanted to be free."
Duley's sister, Adriane Duley, said Wednesday she doesn't think Williams' portrayal of events has been unfair.
"I don't feel that he's dragging my sister through the mud," she said outside the home she shared with her mother, sister, niece and nephews.
"I actually feel that he's speaking fairly compassionately on her part."
Adriane Duley said her family has been overwhelmed by the media attention and cannot even do day-to-day tasks such as taking out the trash or getting the mail, much less plan two funerals and grieve for their loss.
"I've had enough," she said.
"My family needs their privacy. We need to grieve and we can't do that with a whole bunch of cameras in our faces."
Coroner Samuetta Marshall said Tuesday the older boy had bruises that suggested he had been in a struggle.
Duley lived with her sons, a 5-year-old daughter and her mother in a rented home along a street filled with boarded-up, abandoned houses in Orangeburg, about 35 miles south of Columbia, South Carolina's capital.
Out of work and estranged from the children's father, Duley relied on her mother to support her and her children, Williams said.
The sheriff said Duley told investigators her mother constantly harangued her about her failures as a mother and inability to provide for her family financially.
On Wednesday, the 29-year-old mother was expected to appear before an Orangeburg County judge for an arraignment hearing on two murder charges.
Duley's attorney, Carl B. Grant, said Wednesday morning he hasn't had the opportunity to review any of the evidence against her.
"We want everybody to keep an open mind and to understand that they don't know the whole story," said Grant, who would not say what he discussed in his first talk with his client.
Investigators were not convinced when Duley said her sons, ages 2 years and 18 months, drowned after her car plunged into a river.
She ultimately confessed to killing the toddlers, they say -- not by dumping them in the water but by suffocating them earlier with her own hands.
"She truly felt, 'If I don't have these toddlers, I can be free,'" Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said at a news conference Tuesday.
Duley's sister, Adriane Duley, said Wednesday she doesn't think Williams' portrayal of events has been unfair.
"I don't feel that he's dragging my sister through the mud," she said outside the home she shared with her mother, sister, niece and nephews.
"I actually feel that he's speaking fairly compassionately on her part."
Adriane Duley said her family has been overwhelmed by the media attention and cannot even do day-to-day tasks such as taking out the trash or getting the mail, much less plan two funerals and grieve for their loss.
"I've had enough," she said.
"My family needs their privacy. We need to grieve and we can't do that with a whole bunch of cameras in our faces."
Coroner Samuetta Marshall said Tuesday the older boy had bruises that suggested he had been in a struggle.
Duley lived with her sons, a 5-year-old daughter and her mother in a rented home along a street filled with boarded-up, abandoned houses in Orangeburg, about 35 miles south of Columbia, South Carolina's capital.
Out of work and estranged from the children's father, Duley relied on her mother to support her and her children, Williams said.
The sheriff said Duley told investigators her mother constantly harangued her about her failures as a mother and inability to provide for her family financially.
