Chilling Pause Order Before Toddlers Died

Body camera video now shows deputies checking on two South Carolina toddlers weeks before they were later found dead from neglect.

Story Highlights

Deputies and a state case worker found two toddlers dead during a welfare check on September 29.
Released body camera clips show earlier visits where deputies saw the children with their mother.
The coroner said the girls died from starvation and dehydration days before discovery.
Conflicting counts of earlier visits and a paused welfare-check order fuel calls for review.

What Authorities Say Happened and When

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office said deputies had responded to multiple calls at a Ladson home since August. On September 29, just after 12:30 p.m., deputies and the family’s state social-services case worker entered to conduct a welfare check and discovered the bodies of two young sisters inside. The county coroner later reported the children died from starvation and dehydration due to neglect, and likely died three to five days before they were found.

Earlier visits are partly documented in body-worn-camera clips the sheriff’s office released. Video from August 30 shows the mother, Justine May, holding one child while a state social-services worker looks through the home. The sheriff said deputies saw the children with their mother on six dates in late August and mid-September. Deputies reported seeing no visible signs of distress during those contacts, according to the sheriff’s account.

What the Body Camera Footage Shows—and What It Does Not

The released footage confirms deputies had direct, recent contact with the family before the deaths. Reports identify body camera dates that include August 25, August 26, September 8, September 11, and September 12, with two of those dates publicly released so far. The available clips show brief visual checks. They do not establish whether officers checked for food, hydration, or medical status in detail during each visit. Officials have not released a full, visit-by-visit inventory.

Officials have described different totals for prior checks. One account cites thirteen welfare checks in weeks, while another lists ten separate visits involving the mother and children between August 25 and September 20. That gap has not been reconciled in the public record. The mix of partial video and conflicting visit counts has kept focus on how agencies documented concerns and what specific steps they took during each contact.

The Decision to Pause Checks and the Final Entry

Reporting states that a supervisor decided on September 22 to stop additional welfare checks at the address. The deputy who later found the children reportedly went to the home despite that directive to conduct the September 29 welfare check with the state case worker. The available materials do not show the exact wording of the order, the reasons given, or how it moved through the chain of command. The sheriff’s office has not publicly shared those internal records.

The September 29 welfare check followed an external request to verify the children’s safety, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies and the case worker entered the home and discovered the children, who the coroner later said had died days earlier. The sheriff said previous contacts also included help from Mobile Crisis and the state Department of Social Services, but did not release the internal assessments or risk ratings used by those teams.

Why This Case Resonates Beyond One Home

Child-fatality reviews often find that quick visual checks can give false reassurance. Seeing a child does not prove the child has steady food, clean water, or safe care over time. National reviews call for system fixes that span police, social services, health care, and the courts. They stress better information sharing, clearer escalation rules, and full reviews when a child dies due to abuse or neglect. The Ladson case shows several of these pressure points at once.

Bodycam footage reveals police welfare check in weeks before South Carolina toddlers' deaths https://t.co/WMzvTbAYEM

— New York Post (@nypost) October 11, 2026

Families across the political spectrum worry that large systems miss warnings and protect themselves first. This case includes multiple calls for help, short contacts that found “no distress,” and a later order to pause checks. The result was two preventable deaths, according to the coroner’s findings. While arrests and trials will address individual blame, public trust will hinge on a full, documented timeline, the complete body camera archive, and clear rules for when to escalate welfare checks.