The Murder of Jarmecca 'Nikki' Whitehead

34 year-old Jarmecca ‘Nikki’ Whitehead (pictured left) was stabbed to death by her own 16 year-old twin daughters, Jasmiyah and Tasimyah Whitehead (pictured right) on January 13th, 2010. The mother and her daughters were living in Conyers, Georgia at the time the stabbing occurred, but they had spent 12 years prior living with Nikki’s grandmother, located about 20 miles away.

Nikki with her twin girls when they were younger

Nikki moved her daughters to Conyers, Georgia in hopes of giving them a better life, but Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah were not happy about this. The girl’s relationship with their mother had soured since the two entered high school. Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah felt that Nikki was too strict and they began to resent her for that. Nikki felt that the girls were always challenging her and found herself taking away their phones and other privileges quite often. 

Police were called to the home numerous times prior to the murder. One night, Nikki frantically called 911 after Jasmiyah had snuck out in the middle of the night to meet her boyfriend. Another night, during yet another blowout between the girls and their mother, Nikki called the police again. This time, Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah told the officers that they wanted to go back to living with their great-grandmother, where the rules were more relaxed. Conyers Police Officer Myra Scruggs spoke with the girls and their mother at their home for a few hours that night, and things appeared to calm down after that. Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah told Officer Scruggs that they were just going to let it go and call their great-grandmother the following morning.

Still, Officer Scruggs had a bad feeling after leaving their home that evening so she decided to remain at their subdivision for a little bit longer. Less than five minutes after Officer Scruggs walked out of their door, Nikki came screaming and running outside with a cordless phone in her hand. Officer Scruggs ran back to the home and was told by Nikki that the girls had attacked her. Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah claimed they had done so in self-defense after Nikki was being physically abusive towards them. However, Officer Scruggs noticed that Nikki had scratches on her neck and chest while the girls remained unmarked. Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah were taken into custody that night and charged with assaulting their mother.

The girls, along with their mother, were ordered by the court to undergo counseling. Even after this, though, the conflicts between Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah and their mother continued. On the afternoon of January 13th, 2010, the girls called 911 and frantically told dispatchers that they found their mother dead in a blood-soaked bathtub. When the police arrived on the scene, they discovered that Nikki had been stabbed to death over 80 times; her spinal cord was nearly severed.

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Upon the discovery of Nikki's body by police, Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah placed in an ambulance, where one of the officers noticed that Tasmiyah was biting herself on her arm. When asked why she was doing that, Tasmiyah simply replied that it was something she does when she gets upset. While being questioned about their mother’s murder, the girls reportedly cried a lot, but according to investigators, their cries were tearless. Additionally, when they were asked to describe their mother, they were both very insulting towards her, despite the fact that she had just been brutally murdered. Investigators grew very suspicious of the girls after this–especially since they were both caught in a bunch of lies about what they did that day. At this time, though, the investigators only had circumstantial evidence, so the girls were released to their great-grandmother.

In the following four months, investigators gathered more physical evidence. During this time, they discovered that Nikki’s teeth matched the bite mark on Tasmiyah’s arm. It is believed that Nikki bit her in self-defense. They began to realize that Tasmiyah was likely biting her arm in the ambulance that evening to cover up the bite mark from her mother. Additionally, Nikki had a strand of human hair stuck between her teeth that belonged to Tasmiyah. Investigators also found a journal in the home that revealed that the girls had a premeditated plan to kill their mother. 

Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah were finally arrested and charged with their mother’s murder in May 2010. Both eventually confessed to attacking their mother that morning before leaving her in a bathtub to die while they went to school. They accepted a plea deal and were sentenced to 30 years in prison, where they remain today.

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Lists including this case:

[Betrayed By Blood]
[Dangerous Duos]
[Tragic Crimes Committed by Teenagers]

Books about this case:
Killer Twins : The True Story of the Whiteheads