Newly obtained incident reports are detailing a series of warning signs that came before two South Carolina toddlers, two-year-old Emory and one-year-old Harlow Deacon, were found starved to death last week at their home in Ladson. According to the reports, the children’s father, Zachary Deacon, called deputies multiple times between Aug. 10 and Sept. 29 with concerns about the behavior of the children’s mother, 31-year-old Justine May. Deputies responded to domestic disturbance and welfare check calls throughout that stretch, and on Sept. 11, they reported the home was clean and the children were happy and well-fed. Deacon was arrested for harassment the following day after May presented deputies with messages and call logs.
The reports also indicate that deputies were later told to stop welfare checks at the home, even as they returned several times before the children were discovered last week. May has since been charged with two counts of homicide by child abuse. The case has raised difficult questions about how repeated welfare checks and warnings from a family member were handled, and whether anything could have been done differently before two young children lost their lives.
For families on the Suncoast who may be watching their own loved ones struggle, the weight of this story is hard to ignore. Child protection investigations and domestic disputes are complicated, but the reports make one thing clear: concerns were raised, more than once, by people who knew this family. What do you think should have happened differently in this case? We want to hear from you on the air.
