Weeks of Facebook posts and private messages show relatives voicing fears while Justine May insisted repeated welfare checks had found nothing wrong.
LADSON, S.C. — Weeks before two young South Carolina sisters were found dead, their mother publicly rejected relatives’ warnings about the children, saying repeated visits by authorities had cleared her and declaring that she was an “amazing mom.”
The Facebook posts now stand beside a much different official record. Emory Deacon, 2, and her 15-month-old sister, Harlow Deacon, were found dead Sept. 29 inside a home on Pinewood Drive in Ladson. Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal said the children died from starvation and dehydration due to neglect and ruled both deaths homicides. Their mother, 31-year-old Justine Marie May, was charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse. She is accused, not convicted, and the allegations against her remain subject to the criminal court process.
The social-media exchanges are important not because they establish what happened inside the home, but because they show how sharply May’s description of the family’s situation differed from the concerns being expressed around her. May posted screenshots of arguments, text messages and emails involving relatives and her former boyfriend, Zachary Deacon, the girls’ father. She described others as harassing her, interfering in her life and ignoring boundaries. Relatives described isolation, abrupt changes in her behavior and growing fear about whether they would be allowed to see Emory and Harlow.
In a Sept. 9 post described by multiple news reports, May complained that police had been sent repeatedly to her home because of calls from Deacon. She wrote that DSS had also visited and said officials had found nothing wrong. She then called herself an “amazing mom.” Four days later, in another public response to family criticism, May said she was capable of deciding who was best for her children and wrote that the girls were having the time of their lives. The statements were made before investigators found the children dead and before the coroner determined how they died.
Messages from relatives offered a starkly different picture. An aunt told May that her public behavior was hurting people around her and urged her to stop airing family conflicts online. Another relative wrote at length about family members being unable to communicate with her or see the girls. The relative warned that the situation appeared dangerous and referenced a highly publicized Massachusetts case involving a mother accused of killing her children. The message urged May to accept help and allow relatives to remain involved with her and the girls. The warnings reflected the sender’s fears, not findings by investigators, but they show that concern within the family had become explicit.
Deacon’s communications were similarly direct. In text exchanges later made public through May’s own posts, he said he was afraid for the children and rejected the idea that his contacts were merely harassment. His repeated efforts to reach May and involve authorities unfolded amid the breakdown of their long relationship. Law enforcement records describe a complicated domestic dispute in which May accused Deacon of unwanted contact and Deacon told officers he believed her behavior was becoming unstable. Deputies did not report observing conduct during the earlier visits that they believed justified emergency intervention.
That distinction would later become central to scrutiny of the case. The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office said it received 21 calls concerning the Pinewood Drive residence between Aug. 10 and Sept. 29, producing 13 responses to the location. Deputies had contact with May and the children on several occasions, and DSS and the state Department of Mental Health’s Mobile Crisis Unit participated in some visits. Officials said the children appeared cared for during contacts when they were seen and that personnel did not report signs of an immediate threat. Those observations were snapshots made during particular visits, not a guarantee about conditions in the days that followed.
The dispute between May and Deacon also led to his arrest. During a Sept. 11 response, May told deputies that Deacon continued to contact her and drive by her home despite her requests that he stop. A report said deputies believed there was probable cause for a second-degree harassment charge. Deacon was taken into custody Sept. 12 and released on a personal recognizance bond the next day. His attorney and family later questioned that episode because Deacon’s communications included repeated warnings about the girls. The sheriff’s office has maintained that deputies acted on the circumstances and evidence presented during the encounters.
On Sept. 12, Mobile Crisis personnel evaluated May after going to the home with law enforcement. Reports say she did not meet the criteria for intervention and was provided information about resources. Deputies also continued to receive calls about the household. Sheriff Carl Ritchie later said the last in-person contact with May before the fatal welfare check occurred Sept. 20. The children were not seen during that encounter. May reportedly told deputies they were sleeping and did not allow them into the home. On Sept. 22, an on-duty supervisor decided that additional welfare checks would be discontinued unless new actionable information indicated an immediate threat.
The significance of that decision became clearer after O’Neal estimated that Emory and Harlow had been dead for three to five days when their bodies were found Sept. 29. That estimate would place their deaths several days after the decision to stop additional checks. Authorities have not released a more precise public timeline of when each child died. The girls’ family, through attorney Gedney M. Howe IV, has argued that the repeated warnings warrant an independent examination of the agencies’ handling of the case. Ritchie has said his office is conducting an internal review of its response and has defended the importance of judging deputies by the information available to them at each stage.
The final welfare check began shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sept. 29, when deputies returned with the family’s DSS caseworker. Authorities said May left the residence and spoke with responders. Because they knew from previous contacts that she was the girls’ primary caregiver, deputies entered to check on the children. They found Emory and Harlow dead. An arrest affidavit said May was crying and speaking incoherently. According to investigators, she said the previous two weeks were a blur and that she could not remember the last time she had fed the girls or given them something to drink.
Investigators said May also told them she believed the children died because they had not eaten and that she understood failing to provide food amounted to neglect. The affidavit described her as the sole caregiver in the home during the relevant period. Those statements are allegations contained in the criminal case and have not been established through a trial. SLED personnel specializing in child fatalities and special-victims investigations have assisted the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. Officials have not publicly released every document or communication generated during the repeated contacts with the family.
The girls’ deaths transformed posts that had been part of a bitter family dispute into material now being examined against police records and the criminal allegations. May’s statements that she had been cleared during previous visits were based on encounters in which officials said they saw no immediate danger. They did not amount to a finding that future conditions could not change. Likewise, relatives’ fears, however urgent in retrospect, did not by themselves establish what responding officials could legally verify during each earlier visit. The unresolved issue is how those pieces of information were weighed as calls continued.
What remains unresolved reaches beyond whether prosecutors can prove the charges against May. The sheriff’s review has not produced a publicly announced final finding on the earlier responses, and the family has continued to seek an independent examination of those decisions. May remained jailed as her case moved toward a Nov. 20 court appearance, while the circumstances surrounding the warnings about Emory and Harlow remained part of a separate accountability debate.
Author note: Last updated November 10, 2026.