Woman charged with stabbing five children, killing three, when caught by CPS during an unsupervised visit

Italy, Texas: On Friday, March 3, 2023, Child Protective Services made an unannounced visit to a residence where five children were being cared for based on suspicion that their mother, whose custody the children had been removed from, was having unsupervised visits.

The CPS caseworker made the determination that it would be in the children's best interest to remove them from that residence and just a few minutes later, at approximately 4:00 pm, the caseworker placed a call to the Ellis County Sheriff's 911 dispatch line.

Officers arrived just five minutes later and discovered that five children in the home had been stabbed. Three of them, a 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, were determined to be deceased at the scene. Two others, a 4-year-old boy and a 13-month-old girl were rushed by helicopter to Cook's Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas where they were last listed as being in critical condition.

As of Friday night the mother, 25-year-old Shamaiya Deyonshana Hall was booked into the Wayne McCollum Detention Center on three counts of Capitol Murder. Her bond amount was set at a total of $6 million.

The investigation remains ongoing and is being headed by the Ellis County Sheriff's Department and the Texas Rangers and Texas Department of Public Safety are assisting.

CPS issued a statement saying, "We are shocked by this incomprehensible tragedy, and [are] already working with law enforcement to investigate how this happened, and why."

Italy school district superintendent Rachel Kistner issued a statement as well.

"Words cannot express the overwhelming grief felt by the district and the community hearing of such a tragedy. We are a tight-knit, small community and as such many students will be impacted by this incident."

The three children that died had been students at Stafford Elementary and the district announced the counselors would be available.

In 2017 Hall was arrested for aggravated assault after reportedly threatening a man with a knife.

According to The Dallas Morning News, the arrest-warrant affidavit states that Hall, "pulled out the knife from her bra and began waiving it at the complaintant.

While Hall did not stab the man, she did plead guilty to a lesser assault charge as a part of a plea deal which saw her signing a judicial confession stating that she had threatened him.

Her twin sister, Troyshaye Mone Hall was arrested in June of 2021 for stabbing her two children. One of the children, a 7-year-old girl was killed and her son, 16, was injured.

In that case, the arrest-warrant affidavit states that Troyshaye initially identified herself to police as her sister. In October 2021, she was reportedly ordered to go to the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, Texas.

Prayer points: 

• Healing for the two surviving children- that their bodies would be strengthened, and the medical staff would have the wisdom needed to treat them.
• Healing of their trauma and all that entails.
• That both Troyshaye and Shamaiya would receive the help they need and find repentance in Jesus Christ.
• For the surviving family, for healing and forgiveness so that bitterness would not take root.
• For strongholds to be broken