Woman Accused in Double Murder to Use Insanity Defense

On March 7th of this year, Nadeema Sami drove with her 6 year old son to the house of a former landlord, 78 year old Lila Frost seeking unspecified assistance.

Sami and her son are said to have entered the unlocked residence garnering the attention of a neighbor, 68 year old Lorraine Gigliello who then stopped to inquire as to what Sami was doing there.  When Gigliello mentioned calling the police and began to reach for the phone, it is said that Sami attacked and brutally killed the woman with a broken tomato sauce bottle.

County Detective John Wittenburger and West Norriton Detective Charles Naber stated in the arrest affidavit that "Sami knocked the phone to the ground and began to strike Lorraine with several blows to the face and chest."

Sami is said to have admitted to then attacking Frost when she happened to return in the midst of her attack on Gigliello.

The arrest affidavit continues by stating, "Sami stated she kicked Lila Frost into the bathtub and began kicking her in the head and neck until she died."

Authorities included in their report that Sami felt as though she was acting in self defense as one of the women was "pushing buttons in her head."

Earlier this year a psychiatric evaluation was ordered on Sami which determined that she was competent to stand trial.

“Although Ms. Sami appears to have understood the quality of her actions at the time of the offense, her ability to understand the nature/wrongfulness of her actions was significantly compromised due to her severe mental illness,” Sami's attorney, Carrie Allman stated in her recent filing disclosing her intention to use the insanity defense.

Allman stated that her client was suffering from "psychotic beliefs and intense paranoia" at the time of the attacks, and that her client's mental health had been a concern to family members for a decade.

Allman stated that Sami's parents disclosed that she was "convinced that she was Jesus, God was talking to her and that people were following her," and also that "trees bow to her."  Allman additionally wrote that Sami allegedly told a family member in 2016 that "a dentist had placed a tracker in her tooth."

Sami's trial is scheduled to begin on December 3rd where Deputy District Attorney Thomas McGoldrick has stated that he intends to call witnesses "to disprove or discredit" the insanity defense.

Sami is charged with two counts each of first degree murder and third degree murder.  She is additionally charged with one count of child endangerment, criminal trespassing, possession of an instrument of crime with intent and tampering with evidence.